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HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 




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HANDICRAFT 
FOR BOYS 



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BY 



A. FREDERICK COLLINS 

INVENTOR OF THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE 

Author of'^In<ventingfor Boys'' "The 
Boys' Book of Submarines," etc. 



WITH 185 ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS 




NEW YORK 
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1918, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved 



OCT 23 1918 



_ . .K i 



o 



TO 

MY NEPHEW AND NIECE 
CLARENCE AND MAY ZEITLER 



A WORD TO THE BOY 

Your life, if you live it like the average boy, is 
split up into four parts and these are (i) eating, (2) 
sleeping, (3) working and (4) playing. 

Now I haven't a word to say about the first three 
phases of your existence for you will attend pretty 
well to the eating and sleeping ends, and your elders 
will quite likely see to it that you get enough work to 
do in and out of school. 

But when it comes to playing I want to edge in, for 
this is a very important and often a sadly neglected 
part of your daily routine. There are three kinds of 
playing, namely (a) where your mind only is engaged 
as for instance at dominoes, checkers or chess, (b) 
where your body is chiefly in action as in gymnastics 
and outdoor games, and (c) where your mind and 
body are doing something more or less constructive. 

This book which I have written for you deals 
with playing of the latter kind and while I don't want 
you to get so interested in any of the various arts and 
crafts described to the extent of using all your spare 
hours doing it, still it is a great mistake not to have 
a hobby such as jig-sawing, printing, die-sinking or 
the like. There is something tremendously fascinat- 
ing about visualizing things in your brain and then 



A WORD TO THE BOY 

fashioning them with your hands and you ought to 
do it. 

Different from other kinds of playing the by-prod- 
ucts of these arts and crafts last a long time after 
your efforts have been spent upon them and it is a 
source of great pleasure to look at them once in a while 
and know that you made them with your own hands. 

Not only is there the fun of planning and doing 
the things I have described, but you will at the same 
time pick up a lot of information and, what is of far 
more value, your brain and eyes and hands will learn 
to work together like a dynamo direct connected to 
an engine, and then you can depend on them to serve 
you well whenever the occasion may arise. 

A. Frederick Collins. 
" The Antlers," 
Congers, N. Y. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. CARPENTRY WORK AND CABINET MAKING i 

The Tools You Need — The Kinds of Tools — 
Some Hints on Using Tools 
How to Hold a Hammer — How to Use a Saw 
— How to Use a Plane — How to Use Chis- 
els and Gouges — How to Use a Brace and 
Bit — How to Use a Rule — How to Use a 
Marking Gauge — How to Use Hand Screws 
and Clamps — How to Use a Nail Set — 
How to Use a Gimlet — How to Drive Nails 
and Screws — How to Make a Glue-Pot — 
How to Make Good Glue and How to Use 
It 

How to Sharpen Your Tools 
About Sharpening Saws — About Sharpening 
Chisels and Plane Bits — About Sharpening 
Auger Bits 

How to Take Care of Your Tools — Removing 
Rust from Tools — To Etch Your Name 
on Tools — Kinds of Wood to Use 
Pine; Cedar; Mahogany; Oak; Birch; Walnut 
How to Make Joints 
Edge Joints — Corner Joints 

About Working Drawings — Things for You 
to Make 
How to Make a Work Bench — How to Make 
a Tool Chest 

II. SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING, WOOD 

CARVING, ETC 24 

All About Scroll Sawing 

Scroll Sawing Outfits — A Cheap Scroll 
Sawing Outfit 
How to Use the Scroll Saw 
ix 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

A Few Other Helpful Things 
A Hand Saw-Table — Files for Scroll Work 

— A Twist Drill Stock — A Pair of Pliers 

— A Small Hammer — Scroll Saw Blades 

How TO Trace a Design on Wood — Designs for 
Scroll Sawing — Foot- Power Scroll Saws 
The Cricket Scroll Saw ^ The Lester Scroll 
saw — The Fleetwood Scroll Saw 

How A Foot-Power Scroll Saw Works — How 
TO Saw on a Foot- Power Scroll Saw — 
Fancy Woods for Scroll Saw Outfits — 
Table of Scroll Saw Woods — Trimmings 
FOR Boxes, Etc. 

Turning in Wood 
Get a Lathe First 
How a Lathe is Made 

The Cheapest Lathe You Can Buy 
Attachments for the Companion Lathe 

Turning Tools for Wood — How to Turn 
Wood 

The Art of Wood Carving 
Your Set of Carving Tools — The Best Woods 
for Carving — Kinds of Wood Carving 
Chip Carving — Panel Carving — Carving in 
Solid Wood 

Pyrography, or Wood Burning 
The Necessary Tools 
How to Make an Etching Tool — How to 
Make an Alcohol Lamp — A Better Outfit 

— About the Designs — How to Burn in the 
Designs 

Coloring and Staining Wood 
Where to Buy Stains — Ebony Stain — Fumed 
Oak 

HL METALS AND METAL WORKING S6 

Your Kit of Tools — The Various Kinds of 
Tools — Some Hints on Using the Tools 
About Sharpening Tools 



CONTENTS xi 

chapter page 

Metals and Their Uses 
Iron 

Wrought Iron 
Steel 
Tin 
Zinc 
Lead 
Copper 
Aluminum 

A Few Useful Alloys 
Brass 

Type-Metal 
Pewter 

How TO Do Metal Work — First Sketch Your 
Ideas — Sheet Metal Work 
Cutting and Sawing — Making Seams and 
Joints 
How TO Solder Metals 
Fluxes 
Solders 
Bolts and Rivets — Bending Sheet Metal — 
Finishing Up Metals — Coloring Metals 
Bluing Steel — Bluing Brass — Giving Brass 
a Green Color — Giving Brass a Dull Look 
— Frosting Brass Articles — Lacquering 
Brass and Copper — How to Make the 
Lacquer 

IV. VENETIAN IRON, REPOUSSE, PIERCED 

BRASS AND PEWTER WORK . . . ^(i 

Venetian Bent Iron Work 
The Tools You Must Have — The Materials 
You Need — What to Do First 
Making a Simple Design 
How to Make a Toaster — How to Make an 
Egg Boiler — How to Make a Venetian 
Plate Holder 
A Dead Black Finish for Iron Work 
Doing Repousse Work 
Tools Needed for Repousse Work — How to 



xii CONTENTS 

chapter page 

Prepare the Work — Tracing the Design 
— Bossing the Work — How to Make a 
Flat Candlestick — How to Make a 
Photo Frame 
Cleaning and Polishing Metal Work — Fin- 
ishing, Coloring and Lacquering Metals 
Pierced Metal Work 
The Outfit to Do it With — How to Do the 
Work 
Casting and Working Pewter 
Something About Pewter — How to Make 
Pewter — About Working Pewter — How 
to Cast Pewter — The Patterns Neces- 
sary — Making the Mold — Finishing the 
Ware 

Engraving on Metal 
The Tools that are Used — How to Engrave 
ON Metal 

V. DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 103 

Free-Hand Drawing 
Talent versus Practice — Pictures for You 
TO Draw — Simple Line Sketches — 
Sketching Simple Outline Figures — The 
Proportions of the Human Figure — How 
to Draw Faces — Sketching Still Lifb 
Objects — • Drawing in Perspective 
The Vanishing Point 
How TO Shade a Drawing 
Working Drawings 
Drawing Tools You Should Have — Simple 
Working Drawings 
Making Plain Drawings — Isometric Perspec- 
tive Drawings 
Some Simple Aids to Drawing 
How TO Draw a Circle — How to Draw a 
Spiral — How to Draw an Ellipse — How 
to Make and Use a Pantagraph — How 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

TO Make a Reflecting Drawing Board — 
How TO Make Tracings — To Make Last- 
ing Impressions — The Ancient and Hon- 
ored Art of Cutting Silhouettes — Trans- 
fer Pictures of Decalcomania 
How to Transfer the Pictures 

VI. SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 131 

How to Make Blue Prints 
The Materials Required 

Another Kind of Contact Printing 

To Tone and Fix the Pictures — Receipt for 
a Combined Toning and Fixing Solution 
The Simplest Kind of a Camera — How to 
Develop a Dry Plate 
How to Make the Developer — How to Make 
a Fixing Bath 
A Good and Cheap Camera — How to Make 
an Enlarging Apparatus — How to Make 
AN Enlargement 
A Developer for Bromide Paper 
How TO Make a Reflectoscope 
How to Use the Reflectoscope 
How TO Make a Magic Lantern 

How to Work the Lantern 
How TO Make Lantern Slides — How to Make 
Radium Photographs 
Trick Photography 
Spirit Photographs — One Way to Catch Big 
Fish — Taking Caricature Photographs 

VII PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS .... 157 

Kinds of Printing Presses — The Parts of a 
Self-Inking Press — How the Press 
Works — Sizes and Prices of Presses — 
The Outfit You Need 
Outfit for a 3x5 Press — Outfit for a 5 x 8 
Press — Outfit for an 8 x 10 Press 
About Type and Type Setting 
Relative Number of Type Letters — Styles 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

of Type — The Parts of a Type — The 
Sizes of Type — Table of Type Sizes — 
Your Type Cases — Setting the Type 

Making Ready — Printing the Job — How to 
Clean Type — About Distributing Type — 
The Ink and Rollers — Printing in Col- 
ors — Printing in Gold — And Finally 
Your Stock Supply 

The Art of Paper Making 
What Paper Is — How to Make Paper 
Making the Pulp — The Molds You Need — 
Laying the Paper 

Sizing and Finishing 

How TO Bind Books 

Making the Cover — Sewing the Book — Put- 
ting on the title 

VIII. RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING, BURNING 

BRANDS AND STENCILS 183 

Rubber Stamps 
How TO Make Rubber Stamps 
The Materials Needed 

Making the Mold — Vulcanizing the Rub- 
ber — Mounting the Rubber — How to Use 
A Rubber Stamp 
How to Make an Ink Pad 

How TO Make Rubber Stamp Ink — How to 
Make a Copygraph Pad — How to Copy a 
Letter — How to Make Hectograph Inks 

Die Sinking 
How to Make Badges, Name Plates, Etc. — 
How to Sink the Letters — Finishing Up 
the Badge 

Burning Brands 
Ho'W TO Make a Burning Brand 
How to Use the Burning Brand 
Stencils 

How TO Cut Stencils 
Cutting Paper Stencils — Cutting Brass Stcn- 



CONTENTS XV 

CHAPTER PAGE 

cils — How to Use Practical Stencils — 
How to Make Stencil Ink — How to Use 
Decorative Stencils — ■ Mixing Colors for 
Stenciling Borders 

IX. THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 202 

What Glass Is — How to Cut Glass — How 
TO Use a Glass Cutter — How to Finish 
OFF Glass Edges — How to Drill Holes in 
Glass — A Couple of Ways to Cut Glass 
Tubing — How to Cut Glass Disks — 
How to Bend Glass Tubing 
What a Btinsen Burner Is 

How TO Blow Glass — To Round the Ends of 
Tubes — To Border the Ends of Tubes — 
To Seal One End of a Tube — To Make 
A Glass Nozzle — To Make a Hole in a 
Tube — To Join Two Tubes of the Same 
Size — To Join a Tube to the Side of An- 
other Tube — To Blow a Bulb on the 
End of a Tube 
How to Make a Blowpipe — How to Blow a 
Bulb 

How to Etch Glass 

The Sand Blast Process — How to Make 
Ground Glass — The Acid Process 

How TO Cement Glass — A Simple Way to 

Frost Glass 

Substitutes for Glass 
Mica 
Gelatine 

How TO Silver a Mirror 

X. TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 227 

How TO Make a Policeman's Puzzle — How 
TO Make an Automobile Truck — How to 
Make a Swell Coaster — How to Make 
A Nifty Wheelbarrow — How to Make a 
High-Low Swing — How to Make a 
Stick Horse — How to Make a Pony and 



xvi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Cart — How to Make a Life-Like Goose — 
How to Make a Dancing Sambo — How 
to Make a Wireless Pup 

XL HOME MADE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS . . 252 

The Musical Coins 

How to Make Them — How to Play Them 
The Musical Tomato Cans 

How to Make Them — To Play the Musical 
Tomato Cans 

The Musical Glasses 
How to Make Them — How to Play the 
Glasses 

The Tubular Harp 

How to Make It — How to Play the Harp 
The Musical Push Pipe 

How to Make It — How to Play the Push 
Pipe 

The Curious Xylophone 
How to Make It — How to Play the Xylo- 
phone 

The Peculiar Tubaphone 
How to Make It — How to Play the Tuba- 
phone 

The Cathedral Chimes 
How to Make Them — How to Play the 
Cathedral Chimes 

The Aeolian Harp 

How to Make It — How the Wind Plays It 
An Egyptia.n Fiddle 

How to Make It — How to Make the Bow 

XII. SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS ... 274 

Cartoons While You Wait 
Drawing the Cartoons 

Thirty Minutes of Chemistry — The Mystic 
Glass of Milk — The Magic Fountain — 
The Vicious Soap Bubbles — The Un- 



CONTENTS xvii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

CANNY Wheel — Giving a Travelogue — 
An Electrical Soiree — Demonstrating 
Electricity Without Apparatus 
The Electrified Papers — How to Electrify a 
Person — How Like Repels Like 

Making Experiments With Apparatus 
The Induction, or Spark Coil — Demon- 
strating Wireless Telegraphy 

Reading Palms for Fun 
How to Read Palms 

A Talk on the Steam Engine 
Making the Model Engine 

How the Engine Works 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A Model Engine, Showing the Principal Working 

Parts Frontispiece 

Some Useful Wood Working Tools 3 

A Few More Common Wood Working Tools 5 

A Clamp Often Comes in Handy 7 

How Edge Joints Are Made 17 

How Corner Joints Are Made 19 

An Easily Made Work Bench . 20 

A Wood Vise for Your Work Bench 21 

A Carpenter's Tool Chest 22 

The Tray for Your Tool Chest 23 

A Simple and Cheap Sawing Outfit 25 

The Right Way to Use a Hand Scroll Saw 27 

A Hand Scroll Saw Table 28 

Some Necessary Scroll Sawing Tools 29 

Mechanical Masterpieces Made With a Scroll Saw ... 31 

The Cheapest Foot-power Scroll Saw Made 32 

The Lester Scroll Saw with Turning Lathe Attachment . . 33 

The Fleetwood Scroll Saw 34 

The Chief Parts of a Turning Lathe 37 

The Cheapest Wood Turning Lathe Made 39 

A Set of Wood Turning Tools 41 

Putting the Rough Wood in the Lathe 42 

The Right Way to Hold a Wood Working Tool .... 42 

Sizing the Turned Work 43 

Kinds and Sweeps of Carving Tools 45 

Markers for Stamping in Backgrounds 46 

Schemes for Holding Work When Carving 46 

Kinds of Carving 48 

A Carved Watch Case Holder 49 

The Tool Used for Pyrography $2 

xix 



XX ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

An Outfit that Burns Benzine Vapor 53 

How the Tool is Heated 54 

Burning in the Design 54 

The Chief Metal Working Tools 58 

Some Other Metal Working Tools 59 

How Metal Seams and Joints are Made 70 

Materials You Need for Venetian Iron Work 'j'j 

A Useful Bent Iron Toaster 79 

How to Make an Egg Boiler 80 

An Artistic Venetian Plate Holder 81 

A Sconce for a Candle 63 

How to Hold a Repousse Hammer 84 

A Punch and Punch Designs for Repousse Work .... 85 

How to Hold a Repousse Punch 85 

A Repousse Candlestick 67 

A Repousse Photo Frame 89 

The Tools You Need for Pierced Brass Work 90 

A Pierced Brass Candle Shade 91 

A Pierced Brass Toast Sign 93 

Iron Ladle for Melting Pewter 95 

How a Pewter Casting is Made 96 

Home Made Pewter Ware 98 

Tools for Engraving on Metal 99 

How to Hold a Graver 100 

An Engraving on a Sheet of Copper ^. . . loi 

A Simple Line Drawing of a Man and a Horse .... 104 
A Simple Outline Drawing of a Boxer and a Race Horse . 105 

The Proportions of the Human Body 106 

A Full View of the Face 107 

A Profile View of the Face 108 

The Vanishing Points of a Perspective Drawing .... 109 

How to Find the Vanishing Point no 

The Vanishing Points Put to Use • . in 

The Drawing Tools You Need 112 

The T Square and Triangle on the Drawing Board . . .114 

The Plan Drawing for a Box 115 

The Box Drawn in Isometric Perspective 116 

How the Lines for Isometric Drawings are Made . . . .117 



ILLUSTRATIONS xxi 

PAGE 

A Sheet of Isometric Drawing Paper ii8 

The Proportions of an Isometric Ellipse 119 

How to Draw a Circle with a Thread 120 

How to Draw a Spiral with a Thread 121 

How to Draw an Ellipse with a Thread 12a 

How a Pantagraph is Made and Used 122 

How a Reflecting Drawing Board is Made and Used . . . 123 

A Lasting Carbon (Soot) Impression of Your Hand . . . 125 

Silhouettes of Your Great-Grand-pa and Great-Grand-ma 

(When They Were Young) 127 

A Photo Printing Frame 131 

An Easily Made Pin-hole Camera 135 

The Pin-hole Camera Complete with Cloth and Rubber Bands 137 

Two Cheap and Good Cameras 139 

A Home-made Enlarging Apparatus 141 

A Home-made Enlarging Apparatus 143 

A Home-made Enlarging Apparatus 144 

A Cheaply Made Reflectoscope 145 

A Cross Section Top View of the Reflectoscope .... 146 

The Reflectoscope Ready for Use 147 

The Parts of a Home-made Magic Lantern 149 

The Magic Lantern Ready for Use 150 

A Photograph of a Coin Made with Radium 152 

One Way to Catch a Cod 155 

How Caricatures are Made 156 

A Model Self-inking Printing Press 159 

An Outfit for a Model Press 162 

The Parts of a Type 165 

How the Type Cases are Arranged 167 

The Upper Case 168 

The Lower Case 168 

How to Hold a Composing Stick 169 

Putting a Stick of Type in the Chase 170 

Tools for Locking Up a Chase 171 

A Frame for Paper Making 177 

How to Cut Boards and Cloth for Book Binding .... 179 

Sewing on the Muslin Flap 180 

The Bound Book Complete 181 



xxii ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Matrix Frame, Chase and Boards for Making Rubber 
Stamps 184 

The Type in the Chase. Plaster of Paris Impression in the 
Matrix Frame 186 

The Matrix with the Rubber Gum in Place Ready to Vul- 
canize 187 

The Rubber Stamp Ready to Use 188 

Pulling an Impression from the Copygraph 191 

First Steps in Making a Badge 192 

The Badge on a Flat-iron in a Vise. Sinking in the Letters 193 

Steel Letters and Figures for Die Sinking 194 

Last Steps in Making a Badge 195 

A Burning Brand of Iron or Copper 197 

Stencil Letters and Stencils 199 

Glass Cutters 204 

The Right Way to Hold a Diamond Point Glass Cutter . . 205 

How to Cut a Pane of Glass 205 

A Cutter for Glass Tubes 207 

A Circular Glass Cutter 208 

Kinds of Bunsen Burners 210 

Bordering the End of a Tube 211 

Sealing Off the End of a Tube 212 

How to Make a Hole in a Tube 212 

Welding Two Tubes Together. Making a T Tube . . . .213 

A Regular Blow-Pipe 214 

Cross Section of a Home-made Blow-pipe 215 

The Glass Blowing Arrangement Ready to Use 216 

A Regular Foot Bellows 217 

First Steps in Blowing a Glass Bulb 218 

Making a Thick Ring of Glass 218 

Last Step in Blowing a Glass Bulb 219 

Part of tht Apparatus for Sand Blast Etching 220 

Sand Blast Apparatus Put Together Ready for Etching . . 221 

Etching Glass with Acid 223 

A Policeman's Puzzle, or Now Will You Be Good .... 228 

Plans for the Automobile Truck 229 

The Automobile Truck Ready to Run 230 

Plans for a Swell Coaster 231 

The Coaster Ready to Ride On .' . . • . »32 



ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 

PAGE 

Plans for the Nifty Wheelbarrow. The Barrow Ready to 

Wheel 234 

Plans for the High-low Swing 236 

The Swing Ready to Swing Low, Swing High 237 

Ride a Stick Horse to Banbury Cross 238 

Plans for a Pony and Cart. The Pony and Cart When 

Done 240 

How the Life-like Goose is Made . 241 

Goosie, Goosie Gander, Where Shall I Wander 242 

The Dancing Sambo 243 

The Mechanism of the Dancing Sambo 244 

The Wireless Pup, the Slot in the Floor of the Dog House 245 

The Back End of the Dog House 246 

The Spanker with Electric Solenoid Control 247 

Cross Section Side View of the Wireless Pup Ready for 
Action 248 

The Front End View of the Wireless Pup House .... 249 
When You Call the Wireless Pup or Clap Your Hands He 

Comes Out of His Dog House in a Hurry 250 

The Musical Coin 253 

How to Hold the Musical Coin to Spin It 254 

The Chopin Tomato Can 255 

The Musical Glasses 257 

The Harp of a Thousand Thrills 258 

How to Play the Harp 259 

Parts of a Musical Push Pipe 261 

How the Push Pipe is Played 263 

A Xylophone. The Bars are Made of Wood 264 

A Tubaphone. The Bars are Made of Metal Tubes . . . 265 

The Cathedral Chimes 266 

The Harp of Aeolus 268 

Plans for an Egyptian Fiddle 271 

How the Bow is Made 272 

How the Fiddle is Played 273 

How an Easel is Made 276 

First Principles of Cartooning 278 

Three Simple Cartoons that You Can Do 279 

The Oracle of Amor, or Are You in Love? 280 

The Mystic Fountain 282 



xxiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Making Hydrogen Chloride Gas 283 

The Vicious Soap Bubbles 285 

The Uncanny Wheel 287 

The Electrified Papers 291 

A Simple Wireless Demonstration Set 294 

Cross Section of the Coherer Showing Its Construction . 295 
The Parts of the Hand Named According to Science . . . 296 
The Parts of the Hand Named According to Palmistry . . 298 
Working Drawings for the Demonstration Steam Engine. 

Cross Section Side View of the Engine 302 

End View of the Engine. The Crank Shaft. The Rocker 

Arm 304 

Top View of the Engine 306 

The Steam Engine Ready to Demonstrate 309 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



CHAPTER 1 

CARPENTRY WORK AND CABINET 
MAKING 

Did you ever think about what you'd do if you were 
shipwrecked on a tropical island like Robinson Crusoe ? 

Well, if you had a good, strong pocket-knife with you 
it wouldn't be so terribly bad and in a few months' 
time you'd have fashioned all the things you'd need to 
furnish a three-room palmetto bungalow. 

To be sure your furniture wouldn't be very highly 
finished but it would be awfully artistic and while in 
a civilized community it might be looked upon as a 
rare exhibit of savage workmanship, it would serve 
you nobly and well in your island home. 

But you don't have to be marooned on a lonely isle 
or limited to the use of a jack-knife to show your 
prowess as a worker in wood. All you need to do 
is to get some out of the way room where there is 
plenty of light for a workshop and buy a few good 
tools to work with and you'll take as keen a pleasure 
in making useful things with your own hands as 
Robinson Crusoe did. 

I 



2 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

The Tools You Need. — It is a great mistake to go 
out and buy a cheap chest of tools of whatever size 
for while there is always a large number of tools in 
it they are usually of a very poor quality. 

If you can afford to buy a chest of good tools and 
will get them of a regular tool supply house you can 
then buy a chest of tools safely. Now to make any 
ordinary piece of woodwork you don't need many tools 
but each one should be the very best, for therein half 
the pleasure lies. 

The Kind of Tools. — The tools used for cabinet 
making, as the finer kinds of joinery are called, are ex- 
actly the same as those used for carpentry though they 
are usually kept a little sharper and there should be a 
few more of them. 

All the tools you will need at first are shown in Figs. 
I and 2 and these are (i) a cast-steel, adze-eye, bell- 
faced hammer ^ weighing about 9 ounces, which is a 
regular carpenter's hammer. (2) A mallet, made of 
hickory, with a 2^ inch face and try to get one in 
which the handle goes clear through the head and is 
wedged in. 

(3) Four saws,^ namely (a) a 16 inch crosscut saw 
— usually called a handsaw — which is used for saw- 
ing off boards across the grain, (b) a 20 inch rip-saw, 
for sawing with the grain so that a board can be sawed 
lengthwise, (c) a hack saw or miter saw as it is some- 
times called; it is about 12 inches long and has about 

1 The Ohio Tool Company makes good hammers. 
2.Disston saws are the kind to get. 




THE W^Y TOSnW/i BO/iRO 




Sm/m OFF /I STRIP WITH/f 
B^CKSm mo MITER BOX 




B T 

/i C/?RPENTER'S H/IMMER 
/IND HOW TO HOLD IT 




WHERE /I COMP/?SS S/IW 
COMES IN M/INDY 




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HOWTOHOLD/ISHOOTIIINGPUINE 



^FJRMER CHISEL IN USE 



Fig. I. SOME useful wood working tools 
3 



4 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

20 teeth to the inch so that it makes a very fine and 
smooth cut. (d) A compass saw; it has a narrow, 
tapering blade about 10 inches long and is used to cut 
out holes in boards, and to cut disks, or wheels of 
wood. The blade of a keyhole saw is thinner and 
narrower than a compass saw and, hence, smaller holes 
and shorter curves can be cut with it than with a com- 
pass saw. 

(4) A miter box (pronounced mi'-ter) is a little 
trough of wood formed of a bottom with two sides 
screwed to it but without a top or ends. The sides of 
the box have saw-cuts in them, or kerfs as they are 
called, at angles of 45 and 90 degrees so that strips of 
wood, molding and the like can be sawed accurately 
across, or mitered, to make a corner joint. 

(5) Three planes ^ and these are (a) a block plane 
for small light work; (b) a smoothing plane which is 
a little longer and has a handle and is set fine, that is 
the bit, or blade is finely adjusted for finishing work; 
and (c) a jack-plane, which is a large plane used for 
planing off rough surfaces. 

(6) Three chisels,* or firmer chisels as they are 
called. These are regular flat, bevel-edged carpenter's 
chisels and the blades should be ^, J4 ^^^ V^ inch 
wide, respectively. 

(7) Three gouges,^ or firmer gouges, to give 
them their full name. These gouges are simply 

^ I like Stanley planes the best. 

4 Buck Brothers are noted for their chisels. 

s Buck Brothers' gouges are also good. 




BORING J9H0LE WITH /J 
BR/^CE/l/iDBir 




H 

THE SCREWDRIVER /IND 
HOW TO USE IT 




HOW THE TRY SQUARE 
13 USED 




fl N/IIL SET/IHP HOW 
TO HOLD IT 




K 
USING/IM/^RKING G/IUGE 




THE RIGHT W/?r 

TO SH/IRPEN /? CHISEL 



Fig. 2. A FEW MORE COMMON WOOD WORKING TOOLS 



6 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

chisels with curved cutting edges so that a rounded 
groove can be cut in a board. Get them with blades 
having %, ^ and Yz inch regular sweep, as the curve 
of the cutting edge is called. 

(8) A brace and five auger bits.^ A brace and bit, 
as you know, is a tool to bore holes in wood with. 
You ought to have five bits and get them %, %6, %, 
Vie and % an inch in diameter. 

(9) A maple or a boxwood rule; this should be a 
regular, 2- foot, four fold carpenter's rule. (10) A 
marking gauge; the bar of the gauge is graduated in 
i6ths of an inch and the adjustable head of one good 
enough to work with is fitted with a brass thumb screw. 

(11) An iron bound try-square with a 6, or better, 
a 9-inch blade. This is used not only to make meas- 
urements with but to try whether a thing is square or 
not, hence its name. 

(12) Two screw drivers, one for small and the 
other for large screws. (13) Two double cut gimlets, 
one Vs, and the other Viq inch in diameter; these are use- 
ful for making holes for starting screws and the like. 

(14) Four hand screws, or clamps as they are more 
often called ; these are made of wood and are used to 
clamp two or more pieces of wood together when they 
are being bored or after they are glued. The jaws 
should be about 7 inches long and they should open 
at least 4 inches wide. They only cost a quarter 
apiece. 

(15) A nail set; this is a steel punch for driving the 

6 When you buy auger bits get the genuine Russel Jennings. 



CARPENTRY WORK 7 

head of a nail below the surface of the wood without 
denting it. 

(16) A Washita oil-stone is the right kind to 
sharpen wood-working tools on ; a stone J^ or ^ inch 
thick, 2 inches wide and 4 or 5 inches long will be 
large enough and you should make a box with a cover 
to keep it in and so protect it from the dust. 

(17) A sewing machine oil can filled with sewing 




Fig. 2m, a clamp often comes in handy 



machine oil, or any other good, light lubricating oil, 
is needed for sharpening your tools. 

(18) A small can of Le Page's liquid glue, or if you 
want to make your own glue then get a glue-pot and 
brush. You can buy a % pint can of liquid glue for a 
quarter or less, or you can buy a cast iron, water- 
jacketed glue j)ot which holds a pint for about 40 
cents. Get a small round bristle brush for a glue 
brush. 



8 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Some Hints on Using Tools. — Since I have used 
tools ever since I was old eliough to hold a hammer I 
can easily tell you just how you should handle them 
but to become a skilled workman you must be willing 
to do the rest and that is to practice. 

How to Hold a Hammer. — When you use a ham- 
mer, grasp the handle a couple of inches from the free 
end and hold it so that it ^ill swing freely and easily 
in your hand and keep yotin hand and wrist above the 
level of the nail or whatever it is you are pounding; 
this takes the jar off of your arm and makes the work 
of using it surer and less tiresome. Never use a ham- 
mer on wood- work of any kind. 

When you use a mallet Ss, for driviflg chisels hold it 
rather close to its head, and' need I tell you never to 
use a wooden mallet to drive nails with. 

How to Use a Saw. — Hold the wood to be sawed 
with your left hand — I am taking it for granted that 
you are righthanded; put all of the fingers of your 
right hand through the hole in the handle of the saw 
with your thumb on the other side and grip the handle 
firmly. 

To start the saw put it on the mark where you want 
to saw the board and rest your thumb against the side 
of it to guide and steady it. Stand so that your eye 
will look down the back of the saw and don't hold it 
too straight but at an angle of 45 degrees, that is half 
way between the horizontal and the vertical. Of 
course this does not apply to a back saw or a keyhole 
saw. 



CARPENTRY WORK 9 

How to Use a Plane. — Since a smooth plane has 
no handle lay your right hand over the tail of it and 
rest your left hand on the nose of it. Make short, 
quick strokes, pressing down on the plane as it goes 
forward and letting up on it a little as you draw it 
back. 

A jack-plane has a handle on it something like a 
saw-handle and it is held like a saw with your right 
hand. If there is no knob on the nose of it hold it 
by laying your left hand across it. When using a 
jack plane give it a long stroke with even pressure and 
you will take off the same thickness of shaving all the 
way along. 

How to Use Chisels and Gouges. — To hold a chisel 
properly when cutting a groove grip it a couple of 
inches below the top of the handle with your left hand. 
Hold it with the beveled edge down from you and at 
a slight angle from the horizontal when making 
grooves, and at a slight angle from the vertical when 
cutting a mortise. Gouges are used in the same way 
as chisels. 

How to Use a Brace and Bit. — Set the sharp 
pointed end of the bit on the exact spot which is to 
be the center of the hole you are to bore. Hold the 
top handle of the brace with your left hand and the 
crank handle with your right hand. Have the top of 
the brace and the bit in a line with your eye and after 
you start to bore sight the bit on both sides of the hole 
you are boring to see that it is plumb — that is straight 
up and down. 



lo HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

How to Use a Rule. — A carpenter's rule is two feet 
long and divided into inches which are sub-divided 
again into 8ths and i6ths of an inch. In making 
measurements for joinery use the rule accurately or 
you will have misfits. 

How to Use a Marking Gauge. — This is a useful 
device to mark off one or more parallel lines on a board 
when one edge of it is straight. 

The head slides on a wooden bar near one end of 
which is a steel point. The bar is graduated, that is, it 
is spaced off in inches and fractions of an inch like a 
rule and this makes it easy to set the head at any 
distance from the steel point. 

When you have set the gauge hold the head against 
the edge of the board you want to mark, press the 
steel point against the surface and draw the gauge 
along with both hands when the point will scratch a 
line. 

How to Use Hand Screws or Clamps. — Put the 
pieces of wood that are to be held together between the 
jaws of the clamp and screw each screw up a little at 
a time so that the jaws are kept even, that is parallel. 

How to Use a Nail Set. — A finishing nail, that is, a 
nail having a head only a shade larger than the shank, 
is used for the finer kinds of woodwork. After you 
have driven in a nail until its head is within, say, % 
inch of the surface put the small, hollow end of your 
nail set on it, hold them together with your thumb 
and forefinger and drive it in by hitting the nail set 
with your hammer. After the head is sunk below the 



CARPENTRY WORK ii 

surface of the wood fill in the hole with a wood filler ^ 
when neither the nail nor the hole can be seen. 

How to Use a Gimlet. — After you have started a 
hole with a gimlet give it a complete turn and then half 
a turn back each time, for by so doing it will be far less 
liable to split the wood. Moisten the point of the 
gimlet and it will go in easier. 

How to Drive Nails and Screws. — Put a little com- 
mon brown soap on the ends of nails and screws before 
you drive them in and you will find that it greatly 
lessens the friction. 

How to Make a Glue-Pot. — In these days of pre- 
paredness it is easier to buy ready made glue than it 
is to make it yourself; moreover it is just about as 
cheap, nearly as good and certainly far less trouble. 

If you insist on making your own glue though, you 
must, first of all, have a glue-pot of the right kind to 
make it in. As I have already mentioned a glue-pot is 
made of two pots one inside the other. The outside 
pot is half filled with water and the inside one contains 
the glue. 

You can improvise a glue-pot by using a tomato 
can for the outside pot and a pepper or mustard can 
for the inside pot. While it won't look quite as shop- 
like as the kind you buy it will work just as well. 

Hoiji; to Make Good Glue and How to Use It. — To 

"^ To make a wood-filler, melt i ounce of white resin and i 
ounce of yellow wax in a pan and add enough ochre, which can 
be had in any color, to give it the color of the wood you are 
using. Stir it well and fill the dent while hot. This filler sticks 
well to the wood and when dry is very hard. 



12 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

make good glue, put some small pieces of genuine 
Peter Cooper or imported French Coignet glue into 
the inside glue pot in enough water to cover it. The 
outer pot is set on a fire and the water in it is brought 
to a boil. Stir the glue until it is all melted, when it 
should be about as thick as sewing machine oil. Skim 
off the scum that forms when the glue is boiling. 

In using home-made glue have it very hot, for the 
hotter it is the stronger the joint it will make; further 
put it on both surfaces of the wood to be glued 
together very thinly as this also tends to make it stick 
tighter. 

How to Sharpen Your Tools. — You must have 
sharp tools if you expect to do a job like a carpenter 
or a cabinet maker. 

About Sharpening Saws. — This is done by filing 
the teeth with a hand saw taper file and the saw must 
be held in a saw-vise, that is a vise with long jaws 
which keep the saw from vibrating. 

When the saw is filed the teeth must be set, which 
means that one tooth is bent one way a trifle and the 
next one to it is bent the other way and this is done 
with a tool called a saw set. 

You ought to learn to file your own saws but it 
would be just as well, or a little better, to let a man 
who makes a business of filing saws do this job for 
you at first. Keep your saws oiled when not in 
use. 

About Sharpening Chisels and Plane Bits. — To 
sharpen a chisel or a plane bit put a few drops of oil 



CARPENTRY WORK 13 

on your Washita oil stone ; hold the beveled edge of the 
tool on it and toward you, and see to it that it rests 
flat on the stone or you will make it rounding and the 
edge uneven. 

When you get it at exactly the right angle grasp 
it firmly with both hands and then move it on the 
stone, forth and back, pressing down on it pretty hard 
as it moves away from you, and easing up on it as you 
draw it toward you. 

When a chisel or a plane-bit gets a nick in it it 
must be ground out on a grind stone; if you haven't 
one get a carpenter to do it for you, and when you get 
it back hone it, that is, sharpen it on your oil stone as 
before. 

Get a Washita slip stone for the touching up gouges 
and instead of rubbing the edge of the gouge on the 
stone you rub the stone on the gouge. Never try to 
grind a woodworking tool on an emery wheel. 

About Sharpening Auger Bits. — An ordinary 
auger-bit seldom needs sharpening but when it does 
the cutter of it must be sharpened on the inside. A 
very fine file can be used for this purpose and then 
hone it with a slip of an oil stone. 

How to Take Care of Your Tools. — If your work- 
shop is nice and dry you don't need to put your tools 
away in a chest or a cabinet after you get through us- 
ing them each time. 

But if you use them only once in awhile it is a good 
plan to wipe them off with a piece of cheese-cloth 
moistened with oil and then lock them up where neither 



14 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

the baby can get them nor the hired girl from across 
the street can borrow them. 

Removing Dust from Tools. — Should any of your 
tools show signs of rusting you can get the rust off 
by rubbing some sweet oil on the rusted part; let it 
stand a couple of days and then rub it with very finely 
powdered unslacked lime. 

To Etch Your Name on Tools. — Clean the saw, 
or whatever tool you want to etch your name on, with 
a hot solution made by dissolving some sodium carbon- 
ate, commonly called soda, in water and be careful 
not to touch the cleaned surface with your fingers. 

Next cover the cleaned surface with a thin layer of 
melted wax or paraffin and when it is cold scratch 
your name clear through it with a darning needle or 
some other sharp pointed tool so that the steel is ex- 
posed and the acid solution can act on it. 

Put y2 an ounce of water into a glass stoppered 
bottle and add >4 an ounce of nitric acid.^ Shake the 
solution well to mix it, dip a splint of wood into it and 
touch the scratched in letters with it until the acid 
covers the exposed parts of the steel. 

Let the acid solution stay on for a half or an hour 
and then wash it off with hot water, scrape off 
the paraffin and you will find your name etched on the 
steel exactly as you marked it. 

8 Nitric acid is a poison and you must so label the bottle con- 
taining it. Do not pour the water into the acid as it will splash 
about. Be careful not to get it on your clothes, but if you 
should, brush some ammonia over it as this will neutralize it 
and stop its action. 



CARPENTRY WORK 15 

Kinds of Wood to Use. — There are many kinds of 
woods and each one has its special use in the arts and 
crafts. For carpentry and cabinet making you will 
probably not use more than half-a-dozen woods and 
these are, (i) pine; (2) cedar; (3) mahogany; (4) 
oak; (5) hirch and (6) zvalnut. 

Pine. — This is a good wood for making things in 
general. There are two kinds of pine and these are 
(a) zvhite pine and (b) yellozv pine. 

White pine is very soft, light and straight grained 
and it is a pleasure to use it even if it is only to sit on 
a fence and whittle it with a pocket knife. (I wish I 
could do it again.) You can make benches, boxes, 
toys and a hundred and one other things out of it but 
it is too soft for furniture and cabinet work. 

Yellow, or Georgia pine has a fine yellow color, 
and a beautiful grain and together they are very 
showy. It is harder than white pine and while it can 
be used where the latter cannot, it is not nearly as 
easy to work. 

Cedar. — This fragrant wood belongs to the pine 
family and it is nearly as soft as pine. There are two 
kinds of cedar and these are (a) red cedar and (b) 
white cedar. 

Red cedar is the kind you want to get to make things 
of; it has a pastel red color and a fragrant odor and 
it is this latter property that makes it a good wood 
for wardrobe chests, for moths do not like it. Next 
to white pirie it is about the easiest wood to work 
and it is especially nice for making all small articles, 



i6 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

such as glove boxes, handkerchief boxes and the 
Hke. 

Mahogany. — Also and likewise there are two kinds 
of mahogany and these are (a) Honduras mahogany 
and (b) Spanish mahogany. 

Honduras mahogany is the kind that cigar boxes are 
made of and it is much softer and lighter in both 
weight and color than Spanish mahogany. You can 
make all manner of nice things of the better grades of 
Honduras mahogany and, curiously enough, it stays 
glued better than any other wood. It is nearly as 
easy to work as pine and it takes a fine polish. 

Spanish mahogany is like Honduras mahogany in 
name only. It is a fine, close-grained dark-red-brown 
or yellow-brown colored wood, takes a very high pol- 
ish and makes the finest kind of furniture. 

Oak. — This is a strong, beautiful wood and is use- 
ful in making all kinds of furniture the design of which 
should be plain. 

It is not an easy wood to work and tools when used 
on it soon lose their cutting edges. But after you 
have made a piece of furniture you can depend on it 
that it will last to the end of time, nearly. 

Birch. — This wood belongs to the oak family but 
different from oak it is quite easy to work. It is light 
in color, fine grained, so tough and elastic it cannot be 
easily broken, and it takes a fine polish. For these 
reasons it makes nice furniture and it is a very good 
wood for turning. 

It is from the bark of the birch that the Indians 



CARPENTRY WORK 



17 



made their canoes, but this is a story of the long ago 
and we must stick to the present. 

Walnut. — This is a good old English wood; it is 
the finest kind of wood that can be used for ornamen- 
tal furniture, gun stocks and wherever else a beauti- 
ful color and a showy grain are wanted. It is easier 
to work than oak and is a fine wood for carving. 

How to Make Joints. — The word joint in wood- 
working means the place where two or more pieces of 
wood are fitted together, and hence the words joiner 
and joinery in woodworking parlance. 



-\^W 



^W 



fl THE SQUfiRE OR 
BUTT JOINT 




B- THE PL/JIN L /JP JOmT 



C THE BEVELED Lf)P JOINT 



x\\S 



^^ \^^ 



^^ 



\>-THE REBPTED JOINT 

Fig. 3. HOW edge joints are made 



E- THE TONGUEPTiD 
GROOVE JOim 



There are two chief kinds of joints and these are, 
(i) where two flat surfaces are fixed to each other, 
and {2) where the edges of two boards meet to form 
a corner. Though there are many ways to make both 
kinds of joints'! shall only tell you about half-a-dozen 
which you will find the most useful for your needs. 



i8 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Edge Joints. — There are three easy ways to make 
flat, or edge joints and these are (a) the square , or 
butt joint; (b) the lap-joint and (c) the matched 
joint J all of which are shown in Fig. 3. 

In the square joint the edges of the boards are 
simply hutted together and nailed, screwed or glued. 
This joint is very weak unless the abutting ends are 
fastened to something else. 

In the simplest form of lap-joint the edge of one 
board is laid on top of the other board and these are 
nailed or otherwise fastened together. A neater lap 
joint is made by cutting away half of the edge of 
each end of the boards so that when they are fitted and 
fixed together the surfaces of the boards at the joints 
are even and smooth. 

A better joint than the lap-joint is made by planing 
a tongue on the edge of one board and a groove in the 
other. To do this easily, neatly and quickly you need 
a rabbet plane and as this is quite a costly tool, you can 
get along very well without it by using the lap-joints. 

Corner Joints. — There are five corner joints which 
you should know about and these are (a) the butt, or 
square joint; (b) the lap, or rebated joint; (c) the 
mitered corner pieced joint; (d) the common dove-tail 
box joint, and (e) the regular dove-tail joint, pictures 
of all of which are shown in Fig. 4. 

Now when you can saw a board off straight, plane 
it true and make a good joint you will have small 
trouble in making anything in wood that you want to 
make. 



CARPENTRY WORK 



19 



P- THE BUTT OR B* THE REd/iTED O THEMITERED 
SQU/?RE JOINT JOINT CORNER PIECE JOINT 



NVV 




I 



WOOD- 
BLOCK 




0- THE SUPPLE BOX 
POVET/IIL 




E- /I BETTER FORM OF 
DOVET/)/L 



Fig. 4. HOW corner joints are made 



About Working Drawings. — When most boys — 
to say nothing of the majority of men — start to make 
something they simply knit their eyebrows (not high- 
brows) and think out how it wull look in the concrete 
— that is when it is all done and ready to use. 

Then they go ahead and begin to saw up the lumber 
and put the pieces together. The result is that when 
the object is finished it looks very different from the 
thing they so proudly pictured in their mind's eye. 
Now the right way to build what you want and have it 
look as it ought to is to make a working drawing of it. 

To do this draw a picture of it to a scale, of say i 
inch to the foot; that is, if it is to be 4 feet long 



20 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



draw it 4 inches long. The drawings I have made of 
the work-bench and the tool box which follow will 
show you how to make simple working drawings and 
the last part of Chapter III explains it all in detail, so 
read it carefully. 

Things for You to Make. — When you have your 
workshop ready, your tools at hand, the foregoing 
ideas of woods in your mind and know about simple 
working drawings you can go ahead and make things 
and your first job will probably be to make a bench. 




Fig. 5. AN EASILY MADE WORK BENCH 



How to Make a Work Bench. — Go to a lumber 
yard or a planing mill and get one 2x2 scantling 12 
feet long for the legs, and two 2x2 scantlings for the 
cross bars and the side bars ; the middle cross bar can 
be any kind of a thick piece of wood. If you can't 



CARPENTRY WORK 



21 



get 2y.2 scantlings get 2 x 4's and have whichever 
size you get planed smooth on all sides. 

At the same time get three boards i or 2 inches 
thick, 10 inches wide and 6 feet long for the top of 
the bench and two boards i inch thick, 10 inches wide 
and 4 feet long for the tool board. Saw the scantlings 
up so that you will have four pieces for the legs 2 feet 
9 inches long; four cross-bars 2 feet 6 inches long, 
and two side bars 3 feet 6 inches long. 

Build up the frame of the bench first as shown in 
Fig 5 ; then nail, or better, screw a cross-bar to the 
middle of the 6 foot boards, lay them on top of the 
frame and nail or screw them to the end cross bars. 



5C/?£■^v 



FdONT 




a?ass s£cr/o/v 



GUIDE /? 

NUT l_\^^j/jwnXEC> 

X 1 1— TO 

^COLLAR 



5 = f^ 



7ZZ 



WmH£R. 



SCREW 



\SCREW 
QOLUIR 



Fig. 6. a wood vise for your work bench 



When you have the bench thus far along put on the 
vise. 

A wood-worker's vise as shown at A and B in Fig. 
6 can be bought for $3.50 on up to about $9.00. The 
jaws are about 4 inches wide and 12 inches long and 
they open nearly 12 inches. All you have to do to fix 
it to your bench is to screw the rear jaw to the front 
left hand edge of the top of the bench as shown in 

Fig- 5- 



22 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



The tool board is not an absolute necessity but it is 
a great convenience. To make it saw off two boards 
4 feet long, nail them together with a couple of strips 
of wood — these are called cleats — and round off one 
end as shown in Fig. 5. Screw the tool board to the 
back of the bench and you are all ready to make things 

in wood. 

How to Make a Tool Chest.— Either birch or 
chestnut are good woods to make your tool chest of. 
Make the box, that is the lower part of the chest, and 
the lid for it of % inch thick stuff; have the box 9 



MOULDING STRIPS. 




Fig. 7a. a carpenter's tool chest 

inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 inches long and 
have the lid 3 inches high, 12 inches wide and 30 
inches long. Screw the boards together as nails will 
not hold tight enough. See A Fig. 7. 

Screw a strip of wood inside the chest for the tray 
to rest on; put two or three hinges on the box and 



CARPENTRY WORK 23 

lid and be particular how you do it or the lid will 
not fit evenly on the chest. Fasten a staple on front 
of the box in the middle near the top and a hasp on 
the cover so that you can put on a padlock, or better 
you can put on a regular chest lock which is handier 
and makes a neater looking job. To keep the lid from 
falling back when you open it, screw a piece of chain 
about 8 inches long to it and the box and this will 
serve as a check. 

Finally make a tray of % or % inch thick wood as 
shown at B in Fig. 7. Make the ends 6 inches high 
and 6 inches long and saw out the handle grips with 
your keyhole saw. Make the sides and partitions 4% 



JF'\ f\ 



f 



ze'k" >^ 

Fig 7b. the tray for your tool chest 

inches high and 28^ inches long, screw them together 
and put on the bottom. By making the tray narrower 
than the chest you can slide it back and forth and so 
get such tools out of the bottom as you may need with- 
out lifting the tray each time you do so. 

Note. — You can buy any tool I have described in 
this chapter of any hardware dealer or tool supply 
company in your town or if one is not at hand Ham- 
macher, Schlemmer and Company, corner of Fourth 
Avenue and 13th Street, New York City, will supply 
you with just what you want. 



CHAPTER II 

SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING, 
WOOD CARVING, ETC. 

As you may have observed, it takes a pretty good 
sized room for a shop and quite a lot of tools to do 
carpenter work and cabinet making. 

Now if you find it hard to get these things don't be 
discouraged because there are other kinds of wood- 
work that take neither a whole room nor a chest of 
tools, and the chief ones of these are (i) scroll saw- 
ing; (2) wood turning; (3) wood carving and (4) 
pyrography. 

Not only are the pursuits of these trades pleasant 
but they are profitable because whether the art ob- 
jects you make are useful or not the work trains your 
mind, your eyes and your hands at one and the same 
time and when you get these three factors working 
harmoniously together you have achieved something 
that will be valuable to you as long as you live. 

All About Scroll Sawing 

Scroll sawing, fret sawing and jig sawing all mean 

precisely the same thing and that is sawing interlaced 

and ornamental designs out of wood, or fretwork as it 

is called. 

24 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 25 

With a scroll saw frame costing 50 cents and a few 
thin boards you can saw out the most exquisite pat- 
terns and make the most dainty articles imaginable. 
There is more pleasure, of course, in using a regular 
foot power scroll saw, but you can do just as good 
work with a hand frame and though it takes a little 
longer you'll enjoy it immensely. 

Scroll Sawing Outfits. — A scroll saw is a very 
simple piece of apparatus and it consists of a fine saw 
fixed in a frame, or otherwise supported, so that it 
can be moved up and down, and it is narrow enough 
to turn sharp curves. 

Now scroll saws, as I shall call them, are of three 
kinds and these are (i) those worked by hand; (2) 
those run by foot-power, and (3) those operated by 
other kinds of power. 



CLfiMP 

S/)W 
BL/iDE 



CLfiMP ^ 




3flW BLADES 



/JWL 



2flWFRfiM£ 



H/)NDLE 



Fig. 8. a simple and cheap scroll sawing outfit 

A Cheap Scroll Sawing Outfit. — The simplest 
and cheapest scroll sawing outfit consists of (a) a 
scroll saw frame; (b) a dozen sazv blades, and (c) an 
awl, all of which are shown in Fig. 8. If it is your 



26 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

idea to saw out brackets and other fancy knickknacks 
you ought to have a sheet of (d) impression paper/ 
(e) some sheet designs/ and (f) some fancy 
wood. 

The scroll saw frame is a bent iron or steel bar, 
usually nickel-plated, which forms a frame about 5 
inches wide and 12 inches long. A handle is fitted 
to one end and a clamp to each end so that the saw 
blade can be held tight in the frame. 

How to Use the Scroll Saw. — The first thing to do 
is to put a saw blade in the frame and be sure to have 
the points of the teeth down, that is toward the 
handle. 

Next mark the design you intend to saw out on a 
a thin piece of wood ^^ planed nice and smooth on 
both sides, hold it flat on the edge of the table with 
your left hand, grip the saw handle with your right 
hand and hold it so that the saw blade is vertical as 
shown in Fig. 9. 

You are ready now to begin to saw out the design; 
set the sawblade on the line, jig the saw frame up 
and down and be careful to give it even and smooth 
strokes. You will be surprised to find how easily it 
works. When you are sawing turn the wood and 
not the saw frame — the latter can be turned a little 
sometimes to advantage — and hold it so that the back 

s This is ordinary carbon paper such as is used for type- 
writing. 

^ See Fancy Woods for Scroll Sawing in this chapter. 

10 Both can be bought of L. H. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New 
York City. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 27 

of the frame is always toward you and the blade 
should move forward but very slightly. 

When you want to saw a piece out of the inside 
of the board, take your awl and make a hole in it 
by giving it a twisting motion to prevent it from 




• I 

Fig. 9. THE RIGHT WAY TO USE A HAND SCROLL SAW 



splitting the wood. Now unscrew one of the clamps 
of your saw frame and put the free end of the saw 
through the hole, clamp it in the frame and start to 
saw again. 

A Few Other Helpful Things. — A Hand Saw- 
Table. — You can saw out your designs much more 
easily and neatly if you use a hand saw table as shown 
in Fig. 10. This is a board about 4x6 inches on the 



28 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



sides with a V sawed out of one end and a clamp 
screwed to the bottom of it. 

This makes the end of the board project out from 
the table it is clamped to, raises the wood you are 




Fig. 10. A HAND SCROLL SAW TABLE 

sawing from the surface of it and gives you a firm 
grip on it. You can easily make a saw table or you 
can buy one for 50 cents. ^^ 

Files for Scroll Work. — To do a really neat job 
at scroll sawing you should have a set of scroll saw 
files. These files are long and thin and are made 
round, oval, knife edge, half round and three cornered 
as shown at A in Fig. 1 1. 

A Twist Drill Stock. — A tw^ist drill stock and a 
drill, see B, Fig. 11, is far better for making holes 
in wood than an awl and as they only cost 50 cents 
you should have one. You can make a hole in a Vs 
inch thick board in the M.ooth part of a minute. 

A Pair of Pliers. — A pair of flat-nose, side cutting 
pliers is a very useful tool which will go a long way 

"The Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, Mass., makes 
them and nearly all tool companies sell them. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 29 



toward making your scroll sawing efforts a success. 
A pair is shown at C in Fig. 11. 

A Small Hammer. — And finally get a small ham- 
mer to drive brads with as pictured at D. 

Scroll Saw Blades. — There are two kinds made and 
these are known as (i) Star saw blades and (2) Ger- 
man saw blades. 

As one is as good as the other by all means buy 



/ITWI ST DRILL 
STOCK 

8HS9 




SCROLL SfiW 
YER'S FILES 





- S/JW 5LPDES 
{H/71F SIZE) 



D 



D 



FLAT NOSE, SIDE 
CUTTING PLIERS 



nSM^LL 
H/IMMER 



THE TEETH OF/f 
9/fW fiRE PL/iCED 
WIDE /7P^RT TO 
CUT CLE/JN 



Fig. II. SOME necessary scroll sawing tools 

Star blades. The sizes from i to 10 are shown at 
E in Fig. 11, but three smaller and two larger sizes 
are made. The smaller sizes cost 10 cents a dozen 
and the larger sizes 15 cents a dozen. The spacing 
of the teeth on the blade is shown at F. 

How to Trace a Design on Wood. — You can 
draw your own designs or buy them printed ready to 
use. In either case you must transfer the design to 
the surface of the wood you are going to saw. 



30 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

To do this lay a sheet of carbon paper as typists 
call it, or impression paper as jig sawyers call it, with 
the prepared side next to the wood; lay the design 
sheet on top of it; and fasten the corners of the sheets 
to the wood with glue, or, better, with thumb tacks}^ 

Now take a sharp, hard lead pencil or a piece of 
pointed bone and trace the outline of the design. 
When you have it all done you will find that the de- 
sign is plainly marked in black lines on the wood — 
that is except where you forgot to trace it. 

Designs for Scroll Sawing. — Designs in great 
variety can be bought of H. L. Wild, Publisher, 171 
Avenue A, New York City. Besides glove boxes, 
handkerchief boxes, bird cages, clock cases, thread 
and thimble stands, photo frames and a thousand and 
one other pretty and useful articles you can get pat- 
terns for doll furniture, alphabets and mechanical de- 
signs like the horizontal engine shown at A in Fig. 
12 and the fire engine shown at B. 

Foot-Power Scroll Saws. — There are several 
makes of foot-power scroll saws on the market and the 
prices of these range from $4.50 to $25. 

The Cricket Scroll Saw. — This is the cheapest foot- 
power scroll saw that you can buy and is the one that 
sells for $4.50. It has a table that tilts which permits 
you to saw your work on a bevel — that is on a slant 
— so that you can inlay it with some other kind of 
wood or metal. 

12 Thumb tacks are short, flat headed tacks used by draughts- 
men. 




9r ft HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINE 




^T ft FIRE ENGINE 

Fig. 12. MECHANICAL MASTERPIECES MADE WITH A SCROLL SAW 

31 



32 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



This little machine weighs 17 pounds and is 33 
inches high; it is made of lighter castings than the 
machines which follow but it will do just about as 
good work as the higher priced ones. Fig. 13 shows 
what it looks like. 



TILTING 
T/PBLe^ 




Fig. 13. THE CHEAPEST FOOT-POWER SCROLL SAW MADE 

The Lester Scroll Saw. — This is a well made saw, 
has a cast iron frame and the arms of the saw frame 
and the pitman — that is, the rod which connects the 
crank wheel with the frame — are of ash. 

The Lester has several very handy attachments and 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 33 

these are (a) an automatic dust blower, which blows 
the sawdust away from the Hne you are sawing on; 

(b) an adjustable lever saw clamp with a hinged jaw 
which prevents the saw blades from breaking; and 

(c) a drilling attachment. 



Fig. 14. THE LESTER SCROLL SAW WITH TURNING LATHE 
ATTACHMENT 

This saw, which is shown in Fig. 14, costs $10.00, 
is 35 inches high and weighs in the neighborhood of 
30 pounds. The lathe attachment costs $2.00 extra. 

The Fleetzuood Scroll Sazv. — This is the best and 
consequently the most expensive foot power scroll 



34 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



saw made. It has a swing of nearly i6 inches. It 
is fitted with a tihing table, a vertical drill and a 
blov/ing attachment. A scroll saw of this kind with 
a plain stand can be bought for $21.00, or one with a 
fancy stand, see Fig. 15, can be had for $25.00. 




Fig. 15. THE FLEETWOOD SCROLL SAW 

How a Foot-Power Scroll Saw Works. — If you 

will look again at Figs. 13 and 14 you will see that the 
scroll saws shown have saw frames very like a hand 
saw frame. The lower part of the frame is con- 
nected with a crank on the end of a spindle, which has 
a small grooved wheel fixed to it, by a pitman or rod 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 35 

and the treadle is connected with the large drive 
wheel by another pitman; finally the drive wheel is 
belted to the small grooved wheel. 

Now when you work the treadle with your foot it 
produces a reciprocating motion and this is changed 
by the pitman into rotary motion which it imparts to 
the drive wheel. Since the grooved, or driven, wheel is 
smaller than the drive wheel it revolves faster and this 
gives the pitman connected with it a very rapid 
rotary motion on one end but as it is pivoted to the 
frame which in turn is pivoted at the rear end it is 
changed into an up and down or reciprocating motion 
exactly like the treadle but many times faster. 

The Fleetwood works a little differently, in that in- 
stead of a frame the pitman is connected with a metal 
block that slides in a guide. The lower end of the 
saw is fastened to the upper end of this sliding block 
and the top of the saw blade is fixed to the end of a 
long, curved spring whose elasticity tends to make it 
fly up. 

This action keeps the saw blade always taut and 
pulls it up except when the pitman pulls the block down 
and the saw with it. This is the principle on which 
large power jig saws used in shops are worked. 

How to Saw on a Foot-Power Scroll Saw. — Lay 
the board you are going to saw fiat on the table of the 
machine and put your finger tips of both hands on top 
of the board; when possible keep one hand on one 
side of the saw and the other hand on the opposite 
side of it. 



36 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Press down hard enough on the work to keep it 
on the table against the up strokes of the saw; as the 
top of the table is polished it is easy to slide the work 
around and keep the saw on the line. Run the saw at 
an even speed and do not feed the wood against the 
blade too fast. 

Fancy Woods for Scroll Saw Work. — Fancy 

TABLE OF SCROLL SAW WOODS 

Price per foot 
Name planed to a thickness of 

yio to 

Poplar, or White Wood or Bass $0.07 

Spanish Cedar 

White Maple 

Sycamore 

Hazel Wood 

Oak or White Ash 

White Holly 

Black Walnut 

Bird's Eye Maple 

Mahogany 

Cocobola 

Amaranth 

Rosewood 

Satin Wood 

Tulip 



/« in. 


ViQin. % 


m. 


.07 


$0.08 $0 


09 


.10 




.12 


■ 14 


.10 




12 


15 


.11 




13 


15 


.11 




13 


15 


.11 




13 


.15 


.12 




14 


16 


.14 




16 


18 


•14 




16 


18 


.14 




16 


18 


.20 




25 


30 


.20 




25 


30 


.25 




30 


40 


.30 




35 


40 


•50 




60 


75 


•50 




50 


50 



Real Ebony 50 

These woods can be bought of H. L. Wild, 171 Avenue 
A, New York City, or of J. Gabriel and Company, 672 
Grand Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. . 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 37 

woods that are planed on both sides for scroll sawing 
can be bought in thicknesses of Ke, %, %6 and ^ inch. 
Wood that is % inch thick is the best to use for all 
ordinary work. 

The foregoing list gives the name, thickness and 
price of the chief common and fancy woods that are 
good for scroll sawing. 

Trimmings for Boxes, Etc. — Brass hinges, knobs, 
screws, drawer pulls, box hooks, French screws and 
wire nails, that is brads, catches, metal legs, small 
locks, escutcheons, turned moldings, etc., can be 
bought of the above dealers who specialize in scroll 
sawyer's materials. 

Turning in Wood 

And now we come to another and highly fasci- 
nating kind of wood-work and this is to spin a stick 
of wood in a lathe and shape it with a chisel or gouge, 
or wood turning as it is called. 

While the outfit you need to turn wood with costs 
more than for scroll sawing you will never forget the 
pleasure of rounding up of a bit of wood into a shapely 
form, no, not if you were to live a thousand years. 

Get a Lathe First. — It is far better to buy a lathe 
than to try to make one, that is if you expect to turn 
anything on it, for in the first place it is hard to get 
the things to make one with and in the second you can 
buy one for very little money. 

How a Lathe is Made, — A wood turning lathe con- 



38 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

sists of four principal parts, and these are (i) the 
headsfock; (2) the rest; (3) the tailstock; (4) the 
bed and (5) the standj the first three parts of which 
are shown in Fig. 16. 

CONE PULLEY T/?P£R. 

F/)CE PU7T£ CENTER. 




ST/?Rr/NG\ 
WHEEL 





SPUR 
HBflDSTOCK J,EST ^^,^ ^^^ 

Fig. 16. THE CHIEF PARTS OF A TURNING LATHE 



The head stock is fixed to the bed of the stand; it 
is formed of a cone pulley mounted on a spindle in a 
frame. A spur center is screwed to the spindle and 
this holds the wood tightly in place while it is being 
turned. The rest, which is adjustable, is used to lay 
your turning tool on and so keep it in position. A 
long and short rest usually go with the better lathes. 

The tailstock has two adjustments, the first of which 
allows it to be slipped back and forth on the bed and 
clamped at any point which gives a rough adjustment, 
and the second is a spindle which is threaded on one 
end and has a taper center, that is a sharp point on 
the other end. This allows the piece of wood which 
is to be turned to be set between the spur center of 
the headstock and the taper center of the tailstock. 

These parts rest on the bed of the lathe and this in 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 39 



turn is mounted on a stand. The stand is fitted with 
a drive wheel and this is driven by a treadle with which 
it is connected by a pitman exactly like a foot-power 
scroll saw. 

The Cheapest Lathe You Can Buy. — The cheap- 
est lathe you buy is called the Companion; it is made 




T/i£ SAW THES/^W 
T/JBLE 



EMERY WHEEL 




SCROLL S/fi/V 




Fig. 17. THE CHEAPEST WOOD TURNING LATHE MADE 



40 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

by the Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, N. Y., 
and it costs $10.50. It has a long and a short rest, 
three turning tools and a 2 inch face plate and spur 
center. When you get it uncrate it, set it up, oil it 
well and you are ready to do some turning. The lathe 
is shown complete in Fig. 17. 

Attachments for the Companion Lathe. — This lathe 
is fitted with a 4 inch emery wheel without extra 
charge. A very useful attachment is a circular saw 
3 inches in diameter and a saw table 6x7 inches with 
a straight edge guide; it costs $1.25 extra. A scroll 
saw attachment that can be clamped on the lathe bed 
may be bought for $3.00 extra. Both of these at- 
tachments are shown in Fig. 17. Of course better 
and larger lathes can be had for more money. 

Turning Tools for Wood. — The tools used for 
turning wood ^^ are simply chisels and gouges. The 
chisels are made with four kinds of points, namely, 
(i) skezv point; (2) round point; (3) square point, 
and (4) spear point, and these are shown in Fig 18. 
These chisels can be bought in all sizes from ^4 inch 
to I inch wide. 

Gouges also come in sizes from % inch up to i inch, 
and a parting tool, which is used to cut off a turned 
piece and which is simply a V shaped chisel, can be had 
in /4, % and % inch sizes. These turning tools are 
also shown in Fig. 18. You can buy them fitted with 
applewood handles and sharpened ready for use for 
about 50 cents apiece. You can buy them of hard- 

13 Buck Bros.' turning tools for wood are counted best. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 41 

ware dealers or of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., 
Fourth Ave. and 13th Street, New York. 



^ 



^=^ ) 



SKEWPO/NT 



C 



ROUND POINT SPE/}R POINT 

SQUARE POINT 



THE GOUGE 



<L 



THEP/IRTINGTOOL 

Fig. 18. A SET OF wood turning tools 

How to Turn Wood. — Before you can turn out a 
really good job on a lathe you must practice awhile. 
A good thing to try your hand on is to make some tool 
handles. The size of these will, of course, depend 
on what you intend to use them for. 

Take a stick of wood, round or square, it doesn't 
in the least matter, a couple of inches longer and a 
trifle larger than the largest diameter that the handle 
is to be and drive one end against the spurs of the 
face plate as shown in Fig. 19. 

This done screw up the feed of the tailstock until 
the back-center is forced into the end of the wood 



42 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



about Vs of an inch ; clamp the rest so that it comes to 
within % an inch of the wood you are going to turn 
and you are ready for work. 

Now put your foot on the treadle and work it up 




Fig. 19. PUTTING THE ROUGH WOOD IN THE LATHE 

and down; very soon the speed of the drive wheel will 
carry it round smoothly and it will deliver considerable 
power to the pulley of the headstock. If the drive 




Fig. 20. THE RIGHT WAY TO HOLD A WOOD WORKING TOOL 

wheel is 5 times as large as the pulley and you treadle 
the drive wheel 100 times every minute, the stick of 
wood which you want to turn will revolve 500 times a 
minute. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 43 

When you have the wood rotating at about this 
speed grip the handle of it firmly with your right 
hand, lay the back of the chisel on the rest and press 
down on the blade with your left hand as shown in 
Fig. 20. Of course the top edge of the wood is turn- 
ing toward you. 

Whatever you do when you are roughing down a 
stick of wood don't try to take off too large a cut. 
Go at it very gently with the point of your chisel and 
as it begins to cut you can swing the tool around so 
that the whole width of the blade is cutting. 

Gouges are used in the same way as chisels and with 
them you can turn out hollow parts. A parting tool 
is used for cutting off the ends of the wood after you 
have finished turning it. 





SIZfNG W/TH/fPJ^/R 
OFCMIPERS 



/f REGUL/fR. 
SJZJm TOOL 

Fig 21. SIZING the turned work 

When you \v^ant to turn a piece of wood down to a 
given size you can do so by testing it with a pair of cal- 



44 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

ipers, as shown in Fig. 21, or you can size it with a 
regular sizing tool. To size the work measure off the 
distance between the points of the calipers with a 
rule for whatever thickness you want the turned part ; 
then as you turn the wood you can try it from time 
to time until the wood will just slip through between 
the points. 

The Art of Wood Carving 

Carving is by all odds the hardest of all wood- 
working processes to learn and yet there are some 
simple forms of it that are at once easy to do and 
pretty to look at. While carving is an art in itself 
it can be used with fine effect in combination with 
some kinds of scroll sawed and turned work. 

Your Set of Carving Tools. — To begin with you 
can get along very well with a set of six carving tools. 
A set of this number is made up of a % inch, a !4 
inch, a % inch and a Yio inch straight shank carving 
tools and two of these are chisels and four are gouges, 
so you see that they are just about the same as car- 
penters' and turners' chisels and gouges. Such a set 
of tools costs about $3.00. 

A better set contains a dozen carving tools and this 
includes the above tools as well as a couple of bent 
fluting gouges, with Ys and % inch sweeps, a couple 
of front bent tools, a straight parting tool, and a vein- 
ing tool, all of which is shown at A in Fig. 22; the 
sweeps, as the curved cutting edges are called, are 
shown at B. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 45 

The tangs of these tools, that is the sharp ends 
which fit into the handles, have shoulders on them 
to prevent the handles from creeping and splitting. 
The best carving tools on the market are those made 
by S. J. Addis of London, and you can't go wrong if 
you buy them. 



j; iii||iiii|!iai'j:i!li|lllp|fft.'Jim| ir - 

STRAIGHT CHISEL 



/ ■ililli|![i||!'fiWff'fi!!fla 

SKEW CHISEL 





SHORT BEND GOUGE 



STR/HGHT P/?RT/HGT00l, 



fl LONG &END GOUG£. 



FRONT BEND GOUG£ 



VEININ6 TOOL 



BENTFILE 




ItSiS «T8 




SWEEPS Of WOOD C/iRV£R!3 M/?LL5T 
C/^RV/NG TOOLS 

Fig. 22. KINDS AND SWEEPS OF CARVING TOOLS 



Carving tools as they come from the makers are 
sharpened but not honed, that is the tools are ground 
sharp, but the inside bevel of the tools must be rubbed 
up with an oil stone slip and most wood carvers like 
to do this themselves. 

When you buy a set of carving tools you also want 



46 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



to get a carver's mallet made of lignum-vitcE ^^ with a 
face 2"!^^ inches in diameter and, as you will see in Fig. 
21, its shape is quite different from the ordinary kinds. 
Also get a Washita oil stone, and an Arkansas carv- 





n mm m 

ill 

Fig. 23. MARKERS FOR STAMPING IN BACKGROUNDS 

ing tool slip, w^hich is a small wedge-shaped oil-stone. 
Two or more markers, which are stamps made of 
tool steel, are very useful for stamping in background 
work. A number of different designs are shown in 
Fig. 23 and they cost about a quarter apiece. 

WOPK TO 
S£ CmVED 




.////^///^/' 



BENCH 



/?sm 



LEG 



^ 



B 



IT 




W 
/^C/}RVERSV/SE 



/^H/)NDCLmP 



Fig. 24. SCHEMES for holding work when CARVING 

To hold the work while you are carving it you can 
make two or more snihs as shown at A in Fig. 24. 



14 Lignum-vita: is a greenish-brown wood and is very hard 
and heavy. It grows in tropical America. 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 47 

These little clamps are sawed out pieces of wood with 
an ordinary wood screw through the thick end, and 
when you want to carve a flat piece of work clip it with 
a couple of snibs and screw the latter to your bench. 
A better scheme is to use a couple of hand screws as 
shown at B. For carving in relief you will need a 
wood-carver's vise as shown at C. 

The Best Woods for Carving. — A wood that is 
suitable for carving must be tough, even grained and 
free from knots. For a beginner, and I guess you are 
one, yellow pine is a good wood to practice on as it 
is soft and easy to work but you must be careful not 
to splinter it along the grain. 

Oak is much tougher but it is a fine wood for carv- 
ing and you will not need to take the care to prevent 
splintering as with pine. Black walnut and mahogany 
are beautiful woods and are nice to carve, while for 
finer work apple, pear, sycamore and California red- 
wood are largely used. 

Kinds of Wood Carving. — There are three kinds 
of wood carving in general and these are ( i ) chip, or 
surface carving, (2) panel or relief carving, and (3) 
figure carving, as shown in Fig. 25. 

When you cut your initials in the top of your desk 
at school you made a primitive attempt at what is 
called chip carving. Most likely you got the birch 
for it but it was only the savage instinct for decorative 
art that was trying to find expression in you, and so 
it's not your .fault. (But don't do it again.) Any 
kind of carving on a flat surface is called chip carv- 



48 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



ing, and some of it is very beautiful. It is shown 
at A. 

Panel carving is done on flat pieces of wood also 
but the design is made by cutting out or sinking the 




ft- PZ/W P/?/V£l 



2>' F/^/^cr pmEL 




FIGURE C/?RV/NQ 

Fig. 25. KINDS OF carving 



ground, as shown at B. Sometimes when it is desira- 
ble to make some part stand out in relief above the 
surface it is carved out of a separate piece of wood 
and planted on, that is glued on. 

To carve a lily of the valley or a deer's head out of 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOET TURNING 49 

a solid block of wood is not as easy as the other kinds 
of carving, but if you have a natural aptitude for 
using tools and an eye for art you can succeed as well 
as the next one. 




WTCHGOES 



Fig. 25D. A CARVED WATCH CASE HOLDER 



Chip Carving. — • You will need only three tools for 
chip carving and these are (i) a /4 inch chisel; (2) 
a parting tool and (3) a veining tool. 

The first thing is to get the design you want to 
carve on the board. To do this you can either 



50 HANDICR.\FT FOR BOYS 

draw the design directly on the board, or, better, lay 
a sheet of impression paper on the board and then 
the design you want to transfer on top of it and trace 
it with a lead pencil. 

Screw the board to your bench with two or more 
snibs and you are ready for work. Carve out the 
heavier lines with the parting tool and the lighter 
lines with the veining tool. Use the chisel to cut 
the corners sharp and make the lines clean and even. 
In chip carving grounds are never put in. 

Panel Carving. — In this kind of carving leaves, 
berries, scrolls and the like are carved out of the sur- 
face of the board and as the ground is sunk these ob- 
jects stand out in relief. 

Begin by drawing, or transferring, the pattern to 
the board as before; then cut it out with gouges and 
chisels as shown at A and finally use the veining tool 
for the radiating lines. The head can be carved out 
of a separate piece of wood glued to the ground, or 
planted on as it is called. The work can be oiled 
and polished but never varnish it. It is shown fin- 
ished at C. 

To make a watch case holder like the one shown 
at D saw out a piece of walnut, or other wood, % 
inch thick and draw on the design. 

Carve the cross and lower part of the case by 
chipping it; carve the leaves in relief and put in the 
veins with the veining tool. Now saw out another 
piece for the pocket i inch thick and carve out the 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 51 

front and the back to the shape shown at D so that it 
is only Ys inch thick when finished and glue it to the 
other part when you will have a watch case holder of 
the vintage of 1875. 

Carving in Solid Wood. — This ranges all the way 
from carving simple leaves as shown at D to the hu- 
man form divine. 

To carve out leaves on a flat surface draw the de- 
sign as before and carve them out with your gouge to 
look as much like real leaves as you can and to 
give them the final touch of beauty cut the veins in 
with your veining tool. 

For carving out heads, as for example the one 
shown at C, mark the shape of the object which you 
intend to carve on the sides of the block as it would 
look if you cut it down through the middle. Now 
screw up the block in your vise and cut away the sides 
with your chisels and gouges, using the mallet to do 
it with. All you want to do at first is to get the rough 
shape of the figure. 

When you have done this you can go ahead and 
finish up the work with your chisels and gouges. To 
give the carving a life-like appearance do not use files 
or sandpaper on it and do not varnish or polish it. 

Pyrography, or Wood Burning 

This is a simple and pleasing art and one that is 
easy to practice. It gets its didactic name from the 



52 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Greek word pyro, which means fire, and graph, to 
write, that is writing with fire, only in pyrography 
you draw with fire instead. 

The Necessary Tools.— The chief tool you need 
is called an etching tool. This is formed of a piece 
of iron, copper or platinum with a curved point which 
is heated in a flame until it is red or white hot. 
When it is hot you press the curved point against the 
wood upon which you have drawn the design and it 
burns the lines into it. 



=::-:^ 



/7' THE ETCHING TOOL 




ZD 



B- COA/PIETE W/rHH/?NDL£ 

Fig. 26. THE TOOL USED FOR PYROGRAPHY 

How to Make an Etching Tool. — Get a piece of 
copper rod ^ inch in diameter and 3 inches long; file 
one end down to a point to the shape shown at A and 
B in Fig. 26 and put a file handle on the other end. 

How to Make an Alcohol Lamp. — The etching tool 
must be heated in either an alcohol or a Bunsen flame. 
You can make an alcohol lamp of an ink bottle that will 
serve the purpose very well. Make a hole in the cork 
about /4 inch in diameter and make a tin tube i inch 
long that will fit it snugly. Braid a wick of string and 
put it through the tin-tube; fill the bottle with alco- 
hol and your lamp is done. If you can get gas you 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING 53 

can use a Biinsen burner ^^ which makes a hotter 
flame and is less trouble. 

A Better Outfit. — A good outfit which has a plati- 
num pointed tool and burns alcohol vapor, see C, can 




C- /^/y OUTFIT TH/?7 BURNS 
/JLCOHOL V/?POR 

Fig. 26c. AN OUTFIT THAT BURNS BENZINE VAPOR 

be bought for $3.00 and more.^^ If you have gas in 
your house you can buy a tool which uses it for 50 
cents or less. 

About the Designs. — If you are good at drawing 
you can make your own designs, but if not you can buy 
them ready to use. Draw your designs on soft white 
pine or basswood with a soft lead pencil having a 
blunt point. Photo frames, plaques, tie racks, collar 
boxes and things which you can sav/ out on your 
scroll saw are greatly improved by burning. 

How to Burn in the Design. — Heat the tool until 
it is red-hot, or if it is platinum until it is white hot 
as shown at D. Hold the tool as shown at E and 

15 Can be bought of the L. E. Knott Apparatus Company, 
Boston, Mass. 

1" Everything needed for pyrography can be had of the Frost 
and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston. 



54 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



without using too much pressure draw and push the 

point along the lines until they are burnt in evenly. 

When you have burnt in the design burn in the 

background by making a lot of closely spaced lines; 




Fig. 26d. how the tool is heated 

then bum in more parallel lines across the first set. 
This produces a cross-hatched effect which at a dis- 
tance makes the design stand out in bold relief. 




Fig. 26e. burning in the design 



When you have become a little expert you can shade 
the design but don't try it until you can burn the lines 
in evenly. 

Coloring and Staining Wood. — Stains and dyes 



SCROLL SAWING, WOOD TURNING S5 

of all colors can be bought of the Devoe and Reynolds 
Company, loi Fulton Street, New York. 

Ebony Stain. — Brush the wood with a saturated 
solution of ferrous-sulphate and it will make it inky 
black. When used on white holly, or any other close 
grained wood, it gives it a real ebony look. Put the 
solution on with a soft brush. After the ebony stain 
has been used the wood should be polished with wax 
to give it a dull finish. 

Fumed Oak. — Oak can be colored a beautiful brown 
by putting it in a box with a tight fitting lid in which 
is a saucer of ammonia ; paste up the cracks around the 
lid tight and leave it for a couple of days when it will 
take on a brown color which is known by the trade 
name of fumed oak. 



CHAPTER III 
METALS AND METAL WORKING 

There is something about working metals that 
makes a tremendously strong appeal to a fellow and yet 
it is just as easy to fashion these elem^ents as it is to 
shape wood, that is, if you have the right kind of tools 
to do it with. 

Then there is another good thing about working 
metals and that is the tools you need don't cost very 
much and you can soon make enough useful things 
to pay for them. 

Metal working, like wood working, can be divided 
into two classes and these are ( i ) the strictly prac- 
tical, and (2) the purely ornamental, but you can often 
combine them in an object which possesses both utility 
and artistic merit. 

It is my intention to tell you in this chapter about 
the tools that you need to do ordinary metal work, 
such as sawing, drilling, bending, filing, etc. As in 
working wood you ought to have a bench, or a good 
strong table will do. 

Your Kit of Tools. — To work metals you will need 
certain tools according to the kind of work you intend 
to do. If you get all of those I have listed below you 

56 



METAL WORKING 57 

will have nearly all the hand tools you need to do any 
kind of a job that may come up. The following list 
is quite a full one and a kit which includes all of them 
will cost in the neighborhood of fifteen dollars. You 
don't need to buy all of them at once, however, but 
just get a tool at a time as you must have it until your 
kit is complete. 

The Various Kinds of Tools. — Metal working 
tools are tempered harder than wood working tools 
and are made of what is known as tool-steel. 

For your kit of machinists' tools get ( i ) a ball pein 
hammer which weights about 8 ounces — this is a 
regular machinists' hammer; (2) a pair of 4 inch side 
cutting pliers; (3) a pair of 8 inch tinners' snips 
which makes a 2 inch cut; (4) a jeweler's adjustable 
saw frame; (5) a hack saw frame to hold an 8 inch 
saw blade; (6) a hand drill stock with a chuck for 
holding round shank drills from o to %6 inch in di- 
ameter. 

(7) Four Morse twist drills Mc, %2, H and %c 
inch in diameter; (8) a 6 inch steel rule, gradu- 
ated into 8ths, i6ths, 32nds and 64ths of an inch; (9) 
a machinist's steel square with a 2% inch blade; (10) 
a pair of 3 inch spring dividers; (11) a pair of 3 inch 
inside spring calipers; (12) a pair of 3 inch outside 
calipers; (13) a center punch; (14) a No. i set of 
screw cutting taps and dies, this set contains a stock or 
handle and five taps and five dies which cut %4, %4, 
%2, %6, and %2 inch in diameter. 

(15) A few files — flat, hand, round and half- 




TJNNERS SNIPS 




SOLDERING COPPER /?NP 
/?LCOHOL L/fMP 




FL/?T NOSE S/DE 
CUTTING PLIERS 




FL/ITNOSEPUERS 




ROUND tiOSE PLIERS 



/? BENCH LEVEL 




/? l/V/RE GU/?GE 



J? ROSE COUNTERSINK 



y? TJJPER RE/JMER 




OIL CnN /?A/E> O/L5T0NE 




SET OF SCREW CUTTING 
T/?PS /?ND DIES 




A7JJCW/V/STS V/5E 



Fig. 27. THE CHIEF METAL WORKING TOOLS 



58 




JEWELLERS ADJUSr/^BLE 
5/^W FR/iME 



H/iCK SfiW 



qni|i|il'|Mimi|i|i|i|i|iM|iri^l<f^ 



■■■? ' ". >..)..«..)!"°...,..-..->.x..i^..-.::."..v.] 



6" STEEL PULE 



M/^CHINISTS STEEL 5QU/?i^t 



I 



CENTER PUNCH 

^ SB 

COLD CHISEL 



I 



1-SHELL SQU/iRE T/?PER 
Z' ROUND OR R/iT 7/^IL 
3-H/^ND OR FL/?T 
KfNPS OFF/LES 



Fig, 28. SOME other metal working tools 



59 



6o HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

round in shape and the smooth and second cut will be 
the most useful; (i6) several screw drivers, small and 
large; (17) a soldering copper that weighs about V2 a 
pound; (18) a can of soldering paste, or you can make 
a soldering fluid yourself, and (19) an alcohol lamp, 
which I told you how to make in the last chapter, or 
a Bunsen burner if you have a supply of gas, and (20) 
a machinist's vise. All of these tools are shown in 
Figs. 27 and 28. 

Some Hints on Using the Tools. — ( i ) When 
you want to rivet something use the ball pein end of 
the hammer to pound down the end of the rivet as this 
will spread it out in every direction evenly and you 
can make is nice and round. (2) Side cutting pliers 
are useful to hold and bend bits of metal with and to 
cut off pieces of wire as well. (3) Tinner's snips are 
simply large powerful shears and you can cut sheet 
metal up to %2 of an inch thick with an ordinary pair. 
When you cut a sheet of heavy metal with them let 
the lower blade and handle rest on your bench and you 
can get a better leverage on it. Metals that are thicker 
than %2 inch must be sawed. 

(4) While metals can be sawed by using a special 
saw blade in a scroll saw frame you should use a 
jeweler's saw frame with jeweler's saws for metal — 
I prefer the Fish Brand for fine work. (5) For 
heavier work use a machinist's hack saw ; put the piece 
of metal in a vise and have the part you want to saw 
close to the jaws of the vise so that it will not vibrate; 
use a little pressure on the outward, or cutting stroke, 



METAL WORKING 61 

and let up on it as you draw the saw back or you will 
dull the teeth. 

(6) In usingftwist drills, and these are the only satis- 
factory kind for metal work, be mighty careful not to 
press too hard on the drill stock and don't try to 
crowd the drill into cutting faster than it will cut at 
the speed with which it is turning. In drilHng iron 
keep plenty of oil on the drill point. 

(7) You can measure much more accurately with 
a steel rule than you can with a wood rule and whereas 
measurements in cabinet work down to Vie inch are 
close enough, for metal work it should not be more 
than %2nd of an inch, and for machine work make 
your measurements to %4th of an inch. (8) A small 
steel square is better in every way for metal work 
than a carpenters' try square but you will find it quite 
expensive. 

(9) The advantage of spring dividers over the 
ordinary kind is that you can set them very accurately 
and they will stay where you set them. In scribing a 
circle with a pair of dividers mark the center with 
your center punch first as this will prevent your di- 
viders from slipping. 

(10) Inside calipers are used for measuring the 
inside diameters of cylinders and the like, and, con- 
versely (11), outside calipers are used for measuring 
the outside of anything that is round. In either case 
you measure the distance between the points of your 
caliper with your rule to find the diameter of the 
thing. (12) A center punch is alvv'ays useful to make 



62 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

a starting point in metal with, for it can't be rubbed 
off or lost sight of. 

(13) A set of taps and dies to cut screw threads 
with in metal of whatever kind is a joy forever. All 
metal work becomes easy if you have a set of these 
screw cutting tools and it is next to impossible to make 
things if you haven't got them. 

When you are cutting threads in a piece of metal 
with the tap, the hole in the metal must of course 
be a trifle smaller than the diameter of the tap; the 
tap is put into a handle called a stock and as you cut 
the threads in the metal don't turn the stock con- 
tinuously around but give it one complete turn forward 
and then half-a-turn backward and you will be less 
apt to break the tap. 

The same method holds good when you are cutting 
threads on a rod with a die ; in this case the rod must 
be a little larger than the hole in the die. In thread- 
ing iron use plenty of oil on the tap or die, but 
for brass and the softer metals a lubricant is not 
needed. 

(14) In filing work press down on the outward 
or cutting stroke and ease up on the file on the re- 
turn stroke for the teeth of a file are set like the 
teeth of a saw, that is, so that the cut is made on the 
out stroke. 

A small file can be held in one hand and the work 
you are filing in the other which can be rested on the 
edge of the bench but heavier work must be put in a 
vise and the file held firmly by the handle with one 



METAL WORKING 63 

hand and the end steadied and guided by the fingers 
of your other hand. 

(15) In putting in a screw always use the largest 
size screw-driver whose blade will fit the slot in the 
head of the screw; this will prevent the blade of the 
screw-driver from twisting the edges of the slot out 
of shape. 

(16) Before a soldering copper can be used, if it 
IS a new one, it must be tinned, that is the point of 
it must be coated with solder. To tin it get a pine 
board about i inch thick, 4 inches wide and 6 inches 
long, and put some brown resin and bits of solder 
on it. 

File off the copper until the point is sharp and it is 
bright and smooth; heat the copper and then melt 
the resin and solder on the board with it and rub the 
copper in them on all sides until a film of solder is 
formed on it. 

(17) It is cheaper to buy a stick of soldering paste 
than it is to make it but you can easily and cheaply 
make a good soldering fluid by dissolving a teaspoon- 
ful of sine chloride in an ink bottle full of clean water. 

In heating the soldering iron keep it near the tip 
of the flame; if you use an alcohol lamp don't have 
the wick too high and if you use a Bunsen burner 
adjust the openings in it until the flame is as nearly 
invisible as you can get it. 

About Sharpening Tools. — The only metal working 
tools you will need to sharpen are the twist drills and 
these can be sharpened on a carborundum oil stone. 



64 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Hold the beveled edge of the drill point on the stone 
and move it to and fro, being very careful to keep the 
drill perfectly straight up and down while you are 
sharpening it. 

Metals and their Uses. — Like woods each metal 
has its especial uses and it will depend largely on what 
you are going to make as to the kind of metal you 
should make it of. 

There are five chief metals and a couple of alloys, 
which are formed by melting and mixing two or more 
metals together, which you will find the most useful 
and I shall describe these for you in detail. 

Iron. — This is the most useful metal we have. 
When it is pure it has a silvery color, is very tenacious, 
which means that it is tough ; it is malleable, that is it 
can be hammered without cracking, and it is ductile in 
that it can be drawn out into wire without breaking. 

It is hard to get pure iron for nearly all of it con- 
tains a small percent of carbon, silica, phosphorus, 
sulphur or other elements. These substances in iron 
give it different properties. For instance cast-iron 
has a large amount of carbon in it; this kind of iron 
is good to cast into molds but it cannot be hammered 
or drawn without danger of cracking or breaking. 

Wrought iron has very little carbon or other sub- 
stances in it and this makes it easy to work because it 
can be hammered or drawn. S'teel contains more car- 
bon than wrought iron but it has less carbon than cast 
iron ; steel can be cast, forged, tempered and hardened 
by heating it red hot and then suddenly cooling it. 



METAL WORKING 65 

Tin. — This is a white metal that looks very much 
like silver, and it is so malleable that it can be ham- 
mered out into very thin sheets and which you know 
so well as tin-foil. 

It is not found in very many places but the ancients 
called Britain the Tin Islands because they got it chiefly 
from there. What we ordinarily call tin is really 
tin plate, that is thin sheet iron coated with tin, and 
it is used as a covering for other metals because it 
does not rust or oxidize in air. 

Tin is largely used in making alloys such as soft 
solder, type-metal, pewter, etc. It has a very low 
melting point. 

Zinc. — This is a bluish white metal and though it 
is sometimes found in a pure state it is usually found in 
combination with other elements. 

When it is heated to different temperatures it be- 
haves in various ways; for instance when it is cold it 
is quite brittle, but at 100 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit,^'^ 
it can be easily rolled into sheets and rods; curiously 
though when it is heated to 200 degrees or over it gets 
brittle again. 

Zinc is easy to cut and when mixed with copper it 
forms the alloy we know as brass. 

Lead. — This is the softest metal known and it has 
a bluish-gray color. It is very heavy and melts at a 
low temperature. 

i'^ The Fahrenheit thermometer scale is the one generally used 
in this country. Fahrenheit was a German scientist who lived 
200 years ago, and he invented the mercurial thermometer. 



66 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Lead was one of the earliest metals known and if 
you will read the Book of Job you will find it men- 
tioned there. It has been used from time immemorial 
in making water-pipes, utensils, etc., and the ancient 
Romans made weights of it. Since it is so soft it 
can be easily hammered into any shape or it can be 
rolled or drawn. 

It is also largely used in forming alloys with other 
metals, thus solder is made of 50 parts of lead and 50 
parts of tin; type-rnetal is made of 80 parts of lead 
and 20 parts of antimony; and pewter is made of 25 
parts of lead and 75 parts of tin. 

Copper. — This metal is found in a pure state in 
large quantities around Lake Superior in the United 
States and in Chili, South i\merica. It is a fairly 
hard metal of a reddish color, has a high luster, is 
malleable, and ductile. 

Long before iron was known utensils and weapons 
for the chase and war were made of copper and copper 
tools have been found that were made by the ancients 
and tempered even as steel is tempered now, but the 
art was lost when iron came into use. 

Copper is now largely used in the arts and trades as 
for the sheathing and bolts of ships, the conducting 
parts of electrical apparatus, in making alloys, such 
as bronze of which tin is the other metal. Copper is 
easily hammered and drawn but it is so tough that it 
is hard to saw and drill. 

It does not oxidize in dry air but in moist air it 
gradually changes and takes on a layer of carbonate of 



METAL WORKING 67 

copper which gives it a very beautiful and artistic ap- 
pearance and makes it look as if it was a thousand 
years old. 

Aluminum. — This metal is found everywhere in 
nature but as it is never found free it is only in the 
last few years that it has been extracted in large quan- 
tities and cheaply enough to bring it into use. 

It has a bright bluish white color nearly like that 
of tin and is the lightest common metal known. ^^ It 
does not tarnish either in dry or moist air ; it is malle- 
able and ductile and as easy to work as brass but it is 
very hard to solder but there are soldering compounds 
on the market by which it can be soldered. Aluminum 
can be bought ^^ in sheets of any thickness, or in rods 
or tubes of any size. 

A Few Useful Alloys. — When two or more metals 
are melted together and mixed they form what is called 
an alloy. 

Brass. — This well known alloy is made by mixing 
zinc with copper. There are twenty or more differ- 
ent kinds of brass but common brass is made of 36 
parts of zinc and 64 parts of copper. 

Brass is harder than copper and while it can be 
hammered and drawn it is not nearly as malleable or 
as ductile as copper. It can be sawed, drilled, threaded 
and machined easily and is about the best alloy you 
can use for making small parts of machines. 

1^ Aluminum .when mixed with magnesium makes an alloy 
called magnaleiim and this is ligliter than aluminum alone. 
19 Sold by the Aluminum Co. of America, 120 Broadway, N. Y. 



68 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Type-metal. — All kinds of metals shrink when they 
cool after being run into a mold and so the edges of the 
castings are never very sharp. 

Now type metal which is an alloy made of 80 parts 
of lead and 20 parts of antimony will expand and 
this is the reason why type is so beautifully clear and 
sharp. So if you want to cast little parts of machines 
and engines and the like you can do a good job by 
using type-metal. As it melts at a low temperature 
you can melt it in an iron ladle over the kitchen 
fire. 

Pewter. — This alloy, which is made of 75 parts of 
tin and 25 parts of lead, in Colonial days was much 
used for making all kinds of table-ware and house- 
hold utensils and it will come into vogue again 
I hope. More will be said about this alloy and how 
to work it in the next chapter. 

How to Do Metal Work. — Now that you know 
about tools and the properties of metals there are a 
few other little things which, if you will bear them 
in mind, will enable you to make nearly anything you 
want to. The first has to do with drawing and the 
others with working the metals themselves. 

First Sketch Your Ideas. — To start out and try 
to make an object which you have in mind without 
sketching it on paper first so that you can see just 
what size to cut and shape it, and how it will look 
when you have finished it, is the first step toward be- 
ing a disappointed boy. 

When you get an abstract idea for a design or a 



METAL WORKING 69 

machine that you want to put in concrete form take a 
rule and compasses, pencil and paper and draw it out 
to scale J that is, make a drawing of it and mark the 
sizes, or dimensions, of each part just as it should be 
when the thing is done. 

By roughly sketching the object, or, better, by mak- 
ing an accurate working drawing of it before you do 
anything else you will save time, patience and ma- 
terials.^'^ 

Sheet Metal Work. — Cutting and Sawing. — After 
having traced or otherwise marked out the design or 
shape you want on the sheet of metal with the sharp 
point of your center punch or an awl, or scribed it with 
your dividers you can cut it out with your snips if the 
sheet is thin enough. If it is too thick to be sheared 
then saw it out with your jeweler's or hack saw. 

Should you want to make a hole or an open design 
of any kind in thin sheet metal you can easily punch 
it in with your center punch, or cut it out with a 
stencil cutter's chisel, which is simply a very sharp 
cold chisel. ^^ But should the metal be too thick to 
punch or cut in this way drill a small hole in it 
and you can then saw out the part with a jeweler's 
saw frame and blade just as you would saw out a 
piece of wood with a scroll saw, though you may have 
to hold the metal in a vise. 

Making Seams and Joints. — The next thing to do 

20 How to make working drawings is explained in Chapter V. 
Fuller directions will be found in Inventing for Boys, by the 
present author, published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, N. Y. 

21 See Chapter VIII. 



70 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



after having cut out the different pieces of metal is to 
put them together. The way you do this will again 
depend very largely on the thickness of the metals, but 
in any event where the pieces meet, a seam or a joint 
must be made. 

If the metal is thin the pieces can be lapped and then 
soldered or riveted together as shown at A in Fig. 29 






m 



'///////// 



^-GPtOOV£DSEflt1 



C-LAP SE/fM 
RJVETED 



{>• BUTT JOINT 
BOLTED 



BOX LAP' F-BOX " G-BUTT & 

JOINT GPOOVEDSEfiM PIECEDJOINT 




W-CORNER BUTT \-CIRCULm J-CIRCUUJR \^- C/RCULfiR 
JOINT SCREiVED LAP SE/IM FOLDED SE/fM OVERfOLD SE/iM 

Fig. 29. HOW metal seams and joints are made 



or you can make a folded seam as shown at B. If, 
however, the metal is thick you can make a lap seam 
and either rivet or bolt it together with screws having 
nuts on them as shown at C. 

A strong hutt scam can be made by hard soldering 
or brazing the edges together but it takes a hot flame 
and considerable skill to do a good job of this kind. 
Another way to make a butt seam of two thick sheets 



METAL WORKING 71 

of metal is to lay them with their edges together and 
then rivet a strip or plate on both sides of them as 
shown at D. 

In making corner joints one or both edges of the 
sheet should be bent over as pictured at E when they 
can be soldered, riveted or bolted together; or a 
grooved seam can be made as shown at F if the metal 
is thin enough. 

If the pieces of metal are say Me inch or more 
thick you can put a three cornered piece of metal in 
the corner and drill and thread it so that the pieces 
which form the butt joint can be screwed to it as 
shown at G, or if one of the pieces is thick enough 
you can drill and thread it and screw the other piece 
to it as shown at H. 

When putting ends on tubes and cylinders you can 
make a circular lap seam as shown at I, or a circular 
folded seam as at J or a circular overfolded seam as 
shown at K. 

How to Solder Metals. — The great secret in 
soldering metals is to have them perfectly clean and 
then if you use the right kind of flux and the proper 
solder you will not have any trouble. 

Fluxes. — After you have cleaned the surfaces to be 
soldered you must use a flux to prevent the metal from 
oxidizing and to make the solder stick. Different 
metals require fluxes of different kinds. 

When soldering bright new tinware use powdered 
resin for the flux, but if the parts are old then scrape 



72 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

and clean them well and use a flux of ^inc chloride 
solution. To make it dissolve 5 cents' worth of zinc 
chloride — which is muriate of zinc — in a small clean 
inkbottle full of warm water; or you can make the 
muriate of zinc by dissolving some zinc clippings in 
muriatic acid and to make the soldering fluid add some 
water to it. 

This kind of a soldering fluid is a good flux for 
tin, iron, steel, brass and copper. It is good for all 
ordinary work but it must be washed off from iron or 
steel as it will rust them very quickly. To solder cop- 
per sal ammoniac can be used. 

The only kind of a flux to solder zinc with is a 
solution made of 10 per cent, of muriatic acid and 90 
per cent, of water. For lead, pewter and any alloy 
with lead in it use tallow, Gallipoli oil or Venice tur- 
pentine. Resin can be used successfully for all metals 
provided they are scraped bright and clean before they 
are soldered. 

Solders. — Just as certain metals require given 
fluxes so also do these metals need special solders. 

For soldering tinware a fine tinner's solder made 
of I part of tin and i part of lead flows best. For 
soldering lead use a fine plumber's solder which is 
formed of i part of tin and 2 parts of lead. To solder 
pewter which melts at a low temperature use a pew- 
terer's solder which is composed of 3 parts of lead and 
I part of bismuth. 

Bolts and Rivets. — Where two pieces of metal are 
to be fixed together so that they can be taken apart 



METAL WORKING 73 

again, machine screws with nuts on them, or boUs,^^ 
will be found useful. 

A good kind of rivet for small work is known as 
tinner's rivets; they are made of iron and have a 
length of %2 of a inch. Now a rivet can either be 
hammered down so that the point spreads out and 
forms a burr, or a washer, which is called a burr, can 
be slipped down over it and the end then peined down. 
Copper-rivets as small as ^/4 inch in length can be 
bought at most hardware stores. 

Bending Sheet Metal. — To bend a metal sheet put 
it on a wood or metal form and pound it into shape 
with a wooden mallet. 

The edges of a piece of sheet metal can be bent 
either by pounding it over the sharp corner of an iron 
bar, or if a very small part is to be bent use a pair of 
round or flat nose pliers. A thick piece of sheet metal 
can be bent by putting it in your vise and pounding 
over the edge with a hammer. 

Finishing Up Metals. — Of course all the rough 
parts must be smoothed up with a file ; then use emery 
paper or emery cloth to rub out the file marks and 
finally finish off the surface by polishing it with cro- 
cus ^^ put on with a cloth. 

Coloring Metals. — Many things that 3^ou make of 
metal can be greatly improved in appearance by color- 
ing them. 

22 Machine screws and bolts for model work can be bought of 
Luther H. Wightman, Boston, Mass. 

23 Crocus is a powder made of iron rust. 



74 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Billing Steel. — First polish the articles and clean 
them by immersing them in a hot solution of caustic 
soda. Now put the screws, or whatever it is you 
want to blue, in an iron pan half full of dry, clean 
sand and heat them over a fire. 

Keep moving the articles around with a pair of 
tweezers until they are the color you want them and 
then drop them into clean oil. 

Billing Brass. — Polished pieces of brass can be given 
a fine color by putting them in a solution made as fol- 
lows: 

Stir i!4 drams of antimony sulphide J^^ 2 ounces of 
calcined soda in % of a pint of water; to this solution 
add 2^4 drams of kermes. Stir well, filter it and then 
mix it with 2^ drams of tartar, ^V-i drams of hypo- 
sulphite of soda dissolved in % pint of water when it is 
ready to use. 

Giving Brass a Green Color. — Make a solution of 
2 ounces of copper sulphate, % an ounce of sal am- 
moniac and 25 ounces of water. Suspend the articles 
to be greened in the solution and boil it until you get 
the color you want. 

Giving Brass a Dull Look. — First clean the articles 
thoroughly; then mix V^ ounce of iron rust and ^/4 
ounce of zvhite arsenic in 4 ounces of muriatic acid. 
Use a brush and paint the articles with this solution 
until it takes on the proper dull appearance. Then 
wipe it off, oil, dry and lacquer it. 

2* This and all other chemicals can be bought of Eimer and 
Amend, Fourth Ave. and i8th Street, New York. 



METAL WORKING 75 

Frosting Brass Articles. — Hang the brass articles 
in a boiling solution of caustic potash, wash them 
off in clean water and clip them in nitric acid until the 
oxide is gone, wash them again and throw them in 
sawdust to dry; heat them a little and lacquer while 
they are warm. 

Lacquering Brass and Copper. — To lacquer a brass 
or a copper article dip it in a weak solution of sul- 
phuric acid and water and then wash it in clean water. 
Next put the article on a piece of sheet iron and heat 
it over a gas jet or in an oven. 

It must not be heated enough to color it but just so 
that when you place your moistened finger to it it will 
sizzle; now put on the lacquer and this can be done by 
brushing the article over with a camel's hair brush or 
by dipping the article into the lacquer. 

How to Make the Lacquer. — Put i ounce of tumeric 
powder, 2 drams of annatto and 2 drams of saffron 
into I pint of alcohol. 

Let it stand for a week or 10 days and shake it 
often; pour the clear liquid into a bottle and put in 
3 ounces of yellow shellac; let it stand for a couple 
of weeks more; shake it often and pour off carefully. 
Then you can put it on. Lacquers can be bought 
ready made from Hanson and Van Winkle, Dealers in 
Electroplating Supplies, Newark, N. J. 



CHAPTER IV 

VENETIAN IRON, REPOUSSE, PIERCED 
BRASS AND PEWTER WORK 

Venetian Bent Iron Work 

A VERY pretty and most useful kind of ornamental 
iron work came into vogue in Venice, Italy, a long 
time ago, and as it is easy to do and you need only 
a few tools and inexpensive materials to do it with, 
you ought to try your hand at it. 

Venetian iron work consists of bending thin, narrow 
strips of wrought iron into scrolls and other shapes 
and then fixing them together with little iron clamps 
called binders. 

In this way objects such as egg boilers, candlestick 
sconces, lanterns and brackets to hang them on, photo- 
graph frames and helpful and artistic creations with- 
out end can be made. 

The Tools You Must Have. — You will need very 
few tools for making Venetian iron work and these are 
(i) a pair of flat nose 5 inch pliers ;2^ (2) a pair of 
round nose 5 inch pliers; (3) a box-wood four-fold, 
2-foot rule; (4) a vise; (5) a pair of tinner's snips 

25 This means that the pliers are 5 inches long. 

76 



VENETIAN IRON 77 

and (6) a small riveting hammer, all of which are 
shown in Fig. 2y, 

The Materials You Need. — The work is made of 
%2 inch thick soft iron strips and this can be bought ^^ 
in four different widths, namely %, %6, %, and % inch. 

In general it is the best practice to use the %6 and % 
inch wide strips for all designs except the smallest and 
largest. The strip iron comes in coils of 50 feet and 
the prices range from 16 cents to 25 cents a coil. 





BINDERS 



COIL OF WROUGHT LE/JD WIRE 

IRON STRIP FOR MEJ^ SORING 

Fig. 30. MATERIALS YOU NEED FOR VENETIAN IRON WORK 

Then you will need a package of hinders — these 
are merely bits of strip iron cut off and bent as shown 
in Fig. 30, they come in four widths and cost about 
10 cents a hundred. Also g^i a couple of 3 foot pieces 
of lead wire for with these you can quickly form the 
scrolls and circles you intend to make of iron, then 
straighten them out and accurately measure off the 

26 Complete* manual training outfits for Venetian bent iron 
work can be bought of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth 
Avenue and 13th St., New York. 



78 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

length of iron you need. They cost 5 cents a 
strip. 

What to Do First. — Making a Simple Design. — 
The first thing to do after you get your tools and 
materials together is to draw on a sheet of paper the 
object you are to make of bent iron. 

How to Make a Toaster.-— This is a good piece 
of work to start with because it is formed chiefly of 
straight lines. Draw a plan of it as shown in Fig. 
31, full size and then measure the frame and the in- 
side strips — you will observe that there are two of 
the latter — and find out exactly how long each strip 
should be. 

Now measure and cut off three strips of iron and 
allow an extra inch for lapping the long strip that 
forms the frame. This done mark off the points where 
the strips are to be bent and use your flat nose pliers 
to bend the sharp corners and your round nose pliers 
to bend the curved parts of the frame. 

Lap the ends of the strip forming the frame on the 
side V2 an inch, fasten the joint by putting a binder on 
it with your pliers and a light tap with your hammer 
will tighten it up. 

Now if you will look again at Fig. 31, you will see 
that one end of the right inside strip projects up and 
beyond the rest of it and this end sets in the handle of 
the frame and strengthens it; put a binder on each 
place where it is shown in the drawing including the 
handle. Fix in the left inside bent strip with binders 
and put the binders on so that the rough ends will be 



VENETIAN IRON 



79 



inside, file down the rough places, rub the toaster all 
over with a piece of fine emery cloth until it is nice 
and smooth, rub it with some sweet oil, polish it off 
with a soft cloth and then present it to Pietro or Hilda 
or Wo Nang Fong or whoever it is that presides over 
the kitchen. 




Fig. 31. A USEFUL bent iron toaster 

How to Make an Egg Boiler. — Having made the 
toaster you are ready to try your hand at something 
a little harder and a ^ood design for your next piece 
of work is an egg boiler. 

The picture may look a little complicated but as a 
matter of fact there is very little to it. There are only 
three parts to the egg boiler and these are (a) the egg 
holders; (b) the legs, and (c) the handle. Each of 



8o 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



the four egg holders is formed of a ring or strip of 
iron just large enough so that an egg will slip through 
it; lap the ends and put on a binder to hold the joint 
tight. 

Mark, cut off and bend the ends of two strips over 
34 an inch, for the half ovals on which the egg rests 
and then bend the strips to fit the shape of the egg. 




Fig. 32. HOW to make an egg boiler 



This done, loop the ends of each half oval over the 
ring and press them down hard with your pliers to 
hold them in place. The way an egg holder is made 
is shown at A in Fig. 32. 

Each leg is a short strip bent over and pressed on 
to the top of the ring. It is made rigid by putting a 
binder on it and to one of the half ovals as shown 
at B. To make the handle take a piece of lead wire 
and bend it to fit the outline shown at C ; then straighten 



VENETIAN IRON 



81 



it out and cut off a strip of iron of the same length. 
Bend the ends of it over /4 an inch and shape it up 
with your round nose phers. 

Now join the four rings together with binders and 
loop and press the ends of the handle on to the rings 
that are furthest apart as shown at B. File, rub up and 
polish the egg boiler and give it to the chef with your 
compliments. 

How to Make a Venetian Plate Holder. — To 
make this plate holder you will have to add a hand 
drill, a Ys inch twist drill, and a center punch — ■ 
which are described in Chapter III — to your list of 
tools. 




Fig. 33. AN ARTISTIC VENETIAN PLATE HOLDER 

The plate holder is of more simple construction than 
the egg boiler but as you have emerged from the 



82 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



kitchen into the dining- room you will have to do a very 
fine job. It consists of four legs as shov^n in Fig. 33, 
riveted to a ring. 

Drav^ the design on paper full size and this v\^ill 
depend on the diameter of the plate it is to hold. 
Find the length of the legs with your lead wire and 
measure and cut off the strips of iron accordingly. 




Fig. 34. A SCONCE for a candle 



Likewise find the length of iron strips it will take for 
the ring and allow i inch or over for the lap joint. 

Now drill % inch holes in each strip you intend to 
use for the legs, half way between the top and bottom 
of it and drill four holes in the ring at equi-distant 



VENETIAN IRON 83 

points. Bend the strips into the artistic curves shown, 
using, of course, your round nose pHers to do it with, 
and bend the ring over a round form — a broomstick 
will do, but a larger form will work better. 

Finally rivet the legs to the ring and see to it that 
you make a good job of it; slip the top of the legs 
into place over the plate and you will have a piece of 
Venetian iron work you can be proud of. 

You can design and make pretty bent iron stands 
for vases in a manner very like that used for the plate 
holder; card racks, photograph frames, lamp shades, 
etc., can be made in the same manner; and as you be- 
come more adept at the work you can point and shape 
up the iron by heating it in an alcohol lamp, or a Bun- 
sen burner and hammering it. When you can do this 
you will be able to make a sconce, that is, an orna- 
mental mural ^^ bracket for holding a candle as 
shown in Fig. 34. 

Further you can twist and weave the iron strips 
for the sides and doors of boxes and book-cases and 
either line them with silk or put stained glass back of 
them. In fact the most beautiful things imaginable 
can be wrought from bent iron strips especially when 
rivets are used to put the work together. 

A Dead Black Finish for Iron Work. — Get 25 
cents' worth of japan gold siae and 10 cents' worth of 
pure drop black ground in turpentine and mix them 
together. 

27 Mural means anything that is supported by or has to do with 
a wall. 



84 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

If it is too thick thin it with turpentine and put it 
on with a soft brush. When dry it will be dead 
black and neither air nor moisture will spoil it. 



Doing Repousse Work 

Repousse (pronounced re-poo'-say) is a French 
word and means to form in relief, and repousage (pro- 
nounced re-poo'-sazh) is the word you want to use 
when you mean the process of producing designs in 
relief on sheet metal by hammering it on the back. 

Tools Needed for Repousse Work. — Very few 
tools are needed for this kind of work but it is im- 
portant to use the right kind. 

The repousse hammer is a jeweler^s hammer which 
has one end, or face of it flat and the other rounded 
like a peining hammer; it is shown in Fig. 35. 




Fig. 35. HOW to hold a repousse hammer 

Then a number of blunt chisels and markers called 
repousse tools as shown at B, Fig. 35, are needed to 
emboss the design in the sheet metal. These tools cost 
about 30 cents apiece and a set of eight or ten tools 
will serve you well. For the bolder parts of the work 



REPOUSSE WORK 



85 



boxwood punches can be used but steel punches are 
always used for the finer work. 




p 

mi 


lllffll 


111 


1111111' 


J 



r\ r\ 



.^ mmD ^^ 



O O 



Fig. 35B. A PUNCH and punch designs for repousse work 

How to Prepare the Work. — The kind of metal 
that is easiest to work is cold-rolled sheet copper ''^^ 




Fig. 35c. how to hold a repousse punch 

No. 32 Brown and Sharp gauge, but brass, aluminum 
and pewter can also be hammered. 

To get the work ready fasten the piece of sheet 
metal to a wooden block with a cement made as fol- 

28 Can be bought of Patterson Brothers, Park Row, New York, 
or of the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston, Mass. 



86 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

lows: melt i pound of Burgundy pitch in an iron pan, 
or skillet, and stir in i pound of dental plaster of 
paris,^^ until they are thoroughly mixed. Then put 
in a tablespoon ful each of tallow and of resin which 
will make the cement stick better. 

Take a board i inch thick, lo inches wide and 12 
inches long and make a tray of it by nailing a strip 
of wood around it so that it is % an inch higher 
than the surface of the board. Pour the cement while 
it is still hot on the board and press the sheet of metal 
hard down on it; let it get cold when it will be firmly 
cemented to it. 

Tracing the Design. — After you have drawn the 
design on the sheet of metal either with a pencil or 
by means of transfer paper you can begin to trace 
the design by punching it with the straight and curved 
edge chisels. 

To hold a chisel right, grip it between your thumb 
and index finger, let your next, or medius, finger lie 
gently on the shank of the tool and your third, or 
annularis, finger rest on the sheet of metal as shown 
at C in Fig. 35. 

The handle of the hammer is long, thin and springy 
and you hold it by the end with your index finger 
laying on it as shown at A in Fig. 35. Do not strike 
the tool hard or the punch may go clear through the 
metal sheet but instead give it a succession of light, 
gentle taps at the rate of about 100 a minute or so 
and you will make the tracing nice and even. 

2» This is very fine plaster and can be bought of any dentist. 



REPOUSSE WORK 



87 



Bossing the Work. — After you have traced the 
outline of the design with the chisels hold the plate 
over an alcohol or a Bunsen flame and when it is hot 
enough you can take it off of the cement. 

Then cement it to the block again, but this time put 
the other side down. Now use your boxwood or steel 
punches and hammer the copper, or other metal, into 
bold relief or you can matt the ground with any one 
of the numerous punches shown at B. 




ThERlNGFOR 
TH^ CmOLE 




THE DESIGN ON 
THEMET/^L 



THE C/?NDLEST/C/( 
WHENDONE 



Fig. 36. A REPOUSSE candlestick 

How to Make a Flat Candlestick. — This is a 
good piece of work for you to start with because it is 
at once simple, artistic and more or less useful. To 
make it, cut out a sheet of brass 6% inches square and 
draw a spider and his web and a poor little fly or two 
making a bee-line for it as shown at A in Fig. 36. 

Punch the 'outline with your chisels and raise the 
bodies of the insects with your molding tools. The 



88 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

ground can be left flat or you can put it in with a 
marker. When you have the bossing done scallop 
the edges with your snips and bend them up so that it 
is 5 inches square. 

For the handle cut a strip of brass % inch wide and 
4% inches long; raise the middle of it by hammering 
it in a groove cut in a block of hard wood; bend it and 
then rivet it to a corner of the brass sheet. 

To make the ring which holds the candle cut out a 
strip of brass i inch high and 3 inches long and cut 
out three tongues as shown at B. Scribe a circle in a 
corner of the sheet of brass, cut three slots on it, slip 
the tongues through the slots and bend them over. 

Rub the candlestick all over with some brass polish 
and then cover the bottom with a piece of green bil- 
liard cloth if you can get it, or any other kind you 
may have at hand. It is shown complete at C. 

How to Make a Photo Frame. — The front of this 
frame can be made of brass, copper or German silver 
and the back of it can be made of a sheet of tin or 
brass. 

You can make the frame round, oblong or square 
and with a round or an oval opening in it to suit your 
fancy. Suppose you make the outside of it 7x9 
inches and the oval opening 3% x 5 inches as shown at 
A in Fig. 37. Draw or transfer the design to the 
surface of the metal and work it into shape as I have 
previously described. 

Do not cut the opening or trim the metal sheet to 
the size you want them until after you have ham- 



REPOUSSE WORK 



89 



mered it as this draws the metal out. After you have 
finished the front make a back for it of sheet tin or 
brass, 5 inches wide and 6 inches long, and bend over 
the edge of one end and both of the side edges % inch 
as shown at B. 

Solder the edges to the back of the frame and then 
solder a stay, or stand on the back of it. This com- 



P 




SOLDER 
TO THE: 
B/fCK 
OFTH£\ 
FRONT 




THE H/JMM£R£P 
FRONT 



THE B/?CK OF 
THE FR/^ME 



Fig. 2)7' a repousse photo frame 



pletes the frame and the photograph can be slipped 
in it between the front and the back. 

Cleaning and Polishing Brass, Copper and German 
Silver. — To clean any of these metals mix some pow- 
dered rotten stone with some machine oil and rub 
them with a pad made of a soft flannel rag. 

To polish wipe off the rotten stone and oil perfectly 
clean and then rub the work with a chamois skin 
dampened with alcohol and on which you have put 
some red rouge. 



90 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Frosting, Coloring and Lacquering Metals, — You 
will find recipes for finishing articles in these styles 
in Chapter III. 

Pierced Metal Work 

This is by all odds the simplest and easiest of all 
art metal work and you won't need any practice to 
make a good job; then the tools and materials cost but 
very little and the finished work is really pretty. 

The Outfit to Do It With.— The Tools.— These 
are very few indeed and include (i) a pear-shaped 




THd M/JLLET 



c 



/? TR/^CJNG POINT 

a MODELING TOOL THUMB 
t — z :^^ T/iCK 

b- MODELING TOOL 




STIPPLING /JWL S n 

Fig. 38A. THE TOOLS YOU NEED FOR PIERCED BRASS WORK 

mallet for stippling; (2) a tracing point ; (3) a couple 
of modeling tools; (4) an awl with a tempered point, 
and (5) a metal folder, all of which are shown at A in 

Fig. 38. 

You will also need (a) a sheet of designs; (b) a 
sheet of carbon, or impression paper; (c) a dozen or 



PIERCED METAL WORK 



91 



more split shanks to fasten the edges of the work to- 
gether; (d) a drawing board about 12 x 18 inches on 
the sides of which the sheet metal is tacked while 
you are working it, and (e) some thumb tacks for 
tacking the work to the board. 

You will need too, of course, the sheet metal and 




^CmOLE SHADE 




THE FINISHED 
CANDLE SHWt 

Fig. 38B. A PIERCED BRASS CANDLE SHADE 

this can be of brass, copper or German silver and you 
can buy sheets of these metals that are already cut out 
for candle shades, lanterns, photo- frames and nu- 
merous other articles with the designs marked on them 
ready to use ^^ or you can buy the sheet metal and the 

30 All tools and materials for pierced metal work can be bought 
of Frost and Adams, Boston, Mass. 



92 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

designs separately and then transfer and cut them 
out yourself. 

An outfit for pierced brass work can be bought for 
as little as 60 cents and you can buy any number of 
brass or copper cutouts with the designs stamped on 
them for 25 cents each, or of German silver for 50 
cents each. 

How to Do the Work. — The first thing to do is to 
lay the sheet of metal with the design on it on your 
drawing board and fasten it there with thumb 
tacks. 

Now with your stippling awl punch little holes 
about YiQ inch apart all along the outline of the de- 
sign. The background is then stippled with the awl, 
that is, dotted all over but not punched through, and 
the closer the dots are the prettier it will look. 

Use a small modeling tool to put the veins in the 
leaves and after you have done this use a larger 
modeling tool and shape up the leaves or whatever the 
design may be. 

To do this grip the tool in your hand and press it 
hard on the edge of the leaf and force it in toward 
the vein and at the same time ease up on it. This is 
all there is to the actual work of piercing brass. 

After you have made the design take some brass 
polish, put it on a little wad of cheese cloth and rub 
off the remaining marks and then polish it with a clean 
cloth. 

Since the brass or other metal for pierced brass 
work is very thin you will have to back it up with thin 



PEWTER WORK 



93 



wood, although candle shades and other small articles 
can be used as they are. A design for a candle shade 
is shown at B and the finished candlestick at C, while 
one for a toast panel that can be hung on the wall with 
a Venetian bent iron hanger which I described on page 
^6 is shown at D. 




O 



.1 



•sr 



/6 



Fig. 380. A PIERCED BRASS TOAST SIGN 



Casting and Working Pewter 

Since nearly all metals excepting tin and lead have 
high melting points, it is hard to melt them unless you 
have a regular furnace. 

Something About Pewter. — But casting metals is 
a fascinating process and you can do it by melting 25 



94 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

parts of lead and 75 parts of tin together which forms 
an alloy called pewter. 

This alloy is as old as the hills and for ten or 
eleven centuries before the golden age of inven- 
tion — that is to say the beginning of the 19th cen- 
tury — pewter utensils were used in nearly every 
home in every civilized country. 

Then came the invention of cheap processes for mak- 
ing pottery and glass and those good old hard alloys 
known as britannia metal, which is formed of tin, 
copper and antimony, and German silver, which is 
German all right, for it was first made at Hildburg- 
hausen, Germany, but it is not silver at all for it is 
formed of nickel, zinc and copper, went entirely out 
of use. 

But there is a dignity and a beauty about pewter that 
none of the other common metals have and it may be 
revived one of these days for efforts are now being 
made to produce it again in all its former glory. 

How to Make Pewter. — I do not know of any 
place where you can buy pewter but you can easily 
make the alloy yourself. 

You can get the lead in your home town wherever 
you live at any plumbing shop but you may not be 
able to get the tin so easily. You can, however, get 
it by sending to the Conley Tin Foil Company, 521 
West 25th Street, New York, and at the present time 
they are quoting pig tin in blocks at 75 cents a pound. 

When you have the lead and the tin melt the lead in 
an iron ladle, see Fig. 39, over the kitchen fire and 



PEWTER WORK 95 

skim off the dross, that is, the impurities in it that 
come to the surface, and then put in the tin. After 
both are melted stir them well and then pour the alloy 
thus formed, which is pewter, in a pan that is oiled 
with sweet oil, to keep it from sticking and so make 
sheets of it of whatever thickness you want. 




Fig. 39. IRON LADLE FOR MELTING PEWTER 

About Working Pewter. — Pewter can be worked 
like any other malleable metal, only easier because it 
is softer and more ductile, hence it can be hammered 
into any shape. 

It can be cast as you will presently see and it can be 
soldered by using a flux of tallow, Gallipoli oil or 
Venice turpentine and pewterer's solder, which is made 
of I part of lead, i part of tin and 2 parts of his- 
muth.^^ This solder melts at 203 degrees Fahrenheit, 
that is at a temperature of 9 degrees less than that at 
which water boils. 

How to Cast Pewter. — The way in which pewter 
is usually cast is by making molds of iron and brass 
and pouring the metal into them. But you can do 
a very good job of casting pewter by making and using 
plaster of Paris molds. 

In making any kind of castings you need a flask, 

31 Bismuth is a reddish white metal. 



96 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

that is a wooden frame made in halves, as shown in 
Fig. 40; the top half of the flask is called the cope 
and this must be fitted with pins that set in holes in 
the bottom of the frame or drag, as it is called. 

When these pins set in the holes they keep the top 
and bottom parts of the flask together so that after 
the mold is made they can be taken apart and the 
pattern removed and then when they are put together 



P/fTTERN 



i^PLMTER 



Fig. 40. HOW a pewter casting is made 

again ready for the metal to be poured they will be 
exactly even. Make the top and bottom halves of 
the flask a couple of inches larger all round and a 
couple of inches deeper than the size of the pattern 
you are going to cast. 

The Patterns Necessary. — You can saw or turn 
or carve out of wood anything you want to cast in 
pewter, provided it is not too intricate, and after sand- 
papering it nice and smooth all over give it a couple 
of coats of shellac varnish. ^^ 

^~ This can be bought already made at paint stores or you can 
make it by dissolving some yellow shellac in alcohol. 




PEWTER WORK 97 

If it is your idea to make table-ware of pewter you 
can use ordinary china dishes for your patterns, pro- 
vided they are without handles, but before making a 
mold with any kind of a pattern in plaster oil it well 
all over with sweet oil, using a brush for the pur- 
pose, so that it will not stick and then you can draw 
it easily. 

Making the Mold. — Lay the drag, that is the 
lower half of the flask, on a board or a table; mix 
dental plaster of Paris with water until it is about as 
thick as batter and fill the drag with it. 

Just before the plaster begins to set, that is, harden, 
take your pattern, whether it is one you have made or 
a china dish, oil it and press it down into the plaster 
until it is nearly even with the top edge of the pat- 
tern and let it stay there until the plaster is hard, that 
is, over night. 

Then brush sweet oil over the top of both the pat- 
tern and the hard plaster which must come about flush, 
that is even, with the top of the drag. Now put on 
the cope and fill it with plaster, smooth it off even with 
the top edge and let the plaster get hard. 

Your next move is to lift the cope from the drag 
which you can do without trouble and then lift the 
pattern from the drag, using the point of a knife if it 
seems inclined to stick. 

Drill a V^ inch hole through the plaster in the cope, 
fit the cope to the drag again and then pour in the 
pewter. When it is cold take the flask apart, take 



98 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



the casting out gently and don't spoil it even if you 
have to break the mold. 

Where cups, tankards or other hollow vessels are to 
be cast make a mold for it just as though it was a 
solid piece; now pour in the melted pewter and when 
it has cooled enough to form a solid layer turn the 
mold upside down and let the melted metal run out 
which will leave it hollow. If handles are needed 
cast them separately and solder them on to the body 
of the vessel. Some finished pewter ware is shown 
at C. 




Fig. 40c. HOME MADE PEWTER WARE 

Finishing the Ware. — Plates and the like can be 
scraped with a steel scraper and when they are nice 
and smooth rub them with a rag dipped in oil and 
whiting, but do not polish them. 

If you have a turning lathe of any kind you can 
put your cups and other round objects in it and turn 



PEWTER WORK 



99 



it Up with a bent inside turning tool, a flat tool and 
a round point tool such as is used for turning brass, 
ivory, etc., and which you can buy for a quarter 
apiece,^^ and this will leave the pewter bright and 
beautiful. 

Engraving on Metal 

Engraving on metal is a beautiful art. The method 
is simple and the effect is striking but it requires a good 
deal of patience and long practice to do really good 
work. 



11 T«V. 

12 3 4 6 G 



7 8 9 10 



M 




Fig. 41. TOOLS for engraving on metal 

A. Shapes of gravers. 

B. Handles for gravers. 

The Tools That Are Used. — Engraving tools, or 
gravers as they are called, are made in ten or a dozen 
shapes but the knife, round and lozenge gravers will be 

S3 These tools can be bought of Luther M. Wightman, Milk 
Street, Boston, Mass. 



lOO 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



enough to do all ordinary work with. The different 
shapes are shown at A in Fig. 41. 

All of the gravers are about the same length, that 
is 4% or 5 inches, and they are fitted with knob shaped 
handles a third of which has been cut away as shown 
at B, so that the graver can be gripped in the palm of 
the hand with the flat side against it which keeps the 
tool in the right position. The w^ay to hold a graver 
is shown at C. 




Fig. 41C. HOW to hold a graver 



How to Engrave on Metal. — If the object to be 
engraved is very small it should be fixed to a block 
of wood with the Burgundy pitch compound above 
described, but if it is a large object it need not be 
mounted. 

In either case an engraving pad, that is, a round, 
thick leather pad filled with sand, is a very great con- 
venience to rest the work on because it permits the 
work to be easily turned in any direction and heM at 
any angle while it is being engraved. 



PEWTER WORK 



101 




Fig. 4ID. AN ENGRAVING ON A SHEET OF COPPER 

Rolled sheet copper is a good metal to practice on 
and you can trace the design you want to engrave on 
it by dabbing a thin film of engraver's wax ^^ on the 
metal surface with your finger and then sketching the 

34 You can use beeswax but it is better to make a wax by melt- 
ing together 3 parts of beeswax, 3 parts of tallow, i part of 
Canada balsam and i part of olive oil. Or you can buy a small 
cake of Chinese white, wet your finger, rub it on the white and 
then dab it on the metal surface. 



102 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

outline with a bone stylus, that is a piece of bone hav- 
ing a sharp point. An example of art engraving is 
shov^n at D in Fig. 41. 



CHAPTER V 
DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 

Free-hand Drawing 

A PICTURE made by the hand and eye and without 
the aid of a rule and compass is called free-hand 
drawing. 

To be able to do free-hand drawing is one of the 
nicest accomplishments you can have for then you 
can sketch the things you see and want to remember; 
and, further, sketches made with a pencil or pen and 
ink are, to my way of thinking, just as interesting as 
photographs provided they are well done. 

Talent versus Practice. — Some fellows have a 
natural bent for sketching and are what you might 
call born artists, while others seem to be entirely 
minus this talent and the only way they can ever learn 
to sketch is by following certain rules and then prac- 
ticing. 

Now the chances are you have a little talent but 
whether you have or not if you will follow the simple 
instructions I have written down in this chapter you 
will be surprised to find what really clever pictures 
you can draw. • 

Pictures for You to Draw. — There are two kinds 

103 



104 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

of free-hand sketches for you to do and these are (i) 
of life models and (2) of still life, that is, fruit, flow- 
ers, furniture and inanimate objects of all kinds. 

I shall tell you first how to make simple drawings of 
living figures including man and beast and by begin- 
ning where your savage ancestor left off you will be 
able to at least represent anything your fancy dic- 
tates. 

Simple Line Sketches. — As you will see by look- 
ing at A and B in Fig 42, the sketches of the man and 
horse consist of merely straight lines but you will also 





B 

Fig. 42. A SIMPLE LINE DRAWING OF A MAN AND A HORSE 

observe that A looks like a boxer because the action is 
there. 

This is because when I sketched it I was careful to 
note the exact position of the boxer's head, arms, legs 
and body as they appeared at that given moment. 
The keynote in sketching a figure in action is always 
to draw it, not as you wish or believe it to look but 
as it actually is. 

The line sketches A and B only look as like a man 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 105 

landing a right, and a horse coming down the home 
stretch as they do because (a) all the lines are prop- 
erly proportioned, that is, of the right length when 
compared with each other, and (b) they are set in the 
correct positions. The way to become a good judge 
of proportion is always to notice the relative sizes of 
the things you draw. 

Sketching Simple Outline Figures. — When you 
can sketch straight line figures to show men and ani- 




FlG. 43. SIMPLE OUTU.NE DKAWiiNG UF A BOXiiii AND A RACE JdUKSE 



mals in action you can then draw outlines around 
them and so make them much more realistic as shown 
at A and B in Fig. 43. 

To do this draw a straight line sketch first and 
then draw the outline around it, when you can rub 
out the straight lines if you want to. In these out- 
line sketches you will see that only the lines that are 
actually needed to give the picture the contour, that is, 
the shape of thfe figure, or body, are used. 

The Proportions of the Human Figure. — If you 



io6 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



will remember when you are drawing a picture of the 
human form that the whole figure from neck to toe 
should be 7 times as long as the head; that the body 
proper, or torso as it is called, is 4 times as long as the 
head; that the arms are as long as the body, and that 




Fig. 44A. THE PROPORTIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY 

the legs should be 4 times the length of the head 
measured to the inside of the crotch, as you will see 
if you will look at A in Fig. 44, you will have it in pro- 
portion. 

How to Draw Faces. — You can easily draw fairly 
natural looking faces if you will rule off a number of 



DRAWING SIiMPLY EXPLAINED 107 

squares on a sheet of paper as shown at B and C in 
Fig. 44. 

The full view of the head of a human being is 
shaped like an Qgg standing on its small end, and the 
profile (pronounced pro'- feel) view, that is the side 
view of the head, is more nearly square ; if in the latter 
case the square is divided into two triangles, the face 
will be found to nearly fill one of them and the hair 
the other. 

Both of these figures show the right sizes to make 




Fig. 44B. A FULL VIEW OF THE FACE 

the eyes, ears, nose and mouth, that the eyes are on 
a line with the helix, or upper border of the ears and 
that the top of the nose is on a line with the lobe, or 
lower edge of the ear. It is mighty good practice to 
sketch the fac^s of your friends in this fashion. 

Sketching Still Life Objects. — It is always more 



io8 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



or less hard to sketch inanimate objects with anything 
Hke a true portrayal of them from memory but it is 
quite easy to do so if you have the object itself set up 
before you to pattern after and then draw it as 
you see it. 

If you can do a creditable drawing in this manner 
with your eye and hand alone it is art, but if you use 
a rule or a pair of dividers to measure off the propor- 




FlG. 44c. A PROFILE VIEW OF THE FACE 

tions and then mark them on your paper, it degenerates 
into a purely mechanical process; but you can take 
your choice and do it whichever way you want to. 

Drawing in Perspective. — The first thing to know 
about drawing in perspective is what perspective 
means. To do a drawing of an object or a view on 
a sheet of paper as it appears to the eye you must draw 
it in perspective. 

As an illustration, when you look down a railroad 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 109 

track you will see that the rails look very far apart 
at your feet, but in the distance they seem to come 
to a point and then vanish; this is quite natural for 
nearby objects always look larger than when they 
are at a distance. 

So too, when you look at the top of a box the edge 
a will seem longer than the edge b^ which is farther 
away from the eye, and the lines c and d which form 
the other edges would meet if they were projected as 



POINT 





Fig. 45A. THE VANISHING POINTS OF A PERSPECTIVE DRAWING 

shown by the dotted lines at A in Fig. 45, and the 
same thing is true for the front and the side of the 
box. 

The Vanishing Point. — So when you draw a box 
or any other object in perspective the lines will meet 
if you draw them out far enough and then vanish, 
and hence this is called the vanishing point. 

To find the vanishing point of the surface of an 
object, such as the top of a box, hold a pencil out in 
front of yourself at arm's length and shut one eye, 
as shown at B ; then tilt the pencil until it follows the 



110 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



side line that you are going to draw; now open your 
eye and you will see that the line of the box that 
seemed at first to be straight is really slanting. 

Draw a line on your paper at this slant, or angle 
as it is called, and do the same with the other line and 
draw it, when the two lines will meet and this is the 
vanishing point. You can draw in now the front and 
back lines of the top. 



\t/lNlSHINC POINT 




SOLID P£NC/L SHOWS WW 
PENCIL IS TURN5D FROM 
FIRST T(;)3E P/IR/ILLEL WITH 
EDGE OF BOOH- 

\ 

^DOTTEDUNES 
INDICFITE FIRST POS 
ITION OF PENCIL IN 
HORIZONT/IL POSIT/ON 
TOEDGSOFdOOK 



WHEHREPE/ITEP 
ON THIS SIDE THE 
TWO POSITIONS OF THt 
P5NC/L WILL dE SEEN 
TO CONViRGE TO THE 
V/iWISHING POINT 



Fig. 45B. how to find the vanishing point 



Houses and all other objects should be drawn with 
vanishing points if they are to conform to the first 
principles of art, but for certain kinds of mechanical 
drawing art is sacrificed for the sake of showing the 
sizes of the object and an abnormal picture results 
which is called an isometric perspective. 

But houses and all other large objects should be 
drawn with vanishing points or they will not look real. 
A barn drawn in this way is shown at C, and you 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED iii 

will see that the roof looks perfectly natural since 
the lines forming it run to vanishing points. 



.i^ 



/ 



.?o' 



,s^^ 






'"^---"Ilj'""- -"S H H 1 H 



^-9, 
^^^%- 



Fig. 45c. THE VANISHING POINTS PUT TO USE 

How to Shade a Drawing. — When you do a 
drawing from an object you will see that the light 
falling on certain parts of it seems white, or high 
lights, as they are called, and on other parts where it 
does not fall it is dark. 

To shade your drawing so that it will show the 
lights and shadows exactly as the object does, you 
should study the latter, and put the shading, as it is 
called, on the former just as nearly like it as you can. 
But in shading a drawing there must be no sharp lines 
to show where the light leaves off and the shadow 
begins, but you must make them merge gradually one 
into the other, as shown at A in Fig. 45. 

Working Drawings 

And now we come to drawings of another kind and 
these are not intended to please the eye but to work 
from, hence they are called working drawings. 

When most "boys, and many men, want to make 
anything of wood or metal they get busy with their 



112 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



tools forthwith and whack it out wdlly-nilly and of 
course a punk job results. 

Now the right way to make an article — unless you 
are going to crochet a sweater — is to ( i ) see it in 
your mind's eye, (2) then draw it out on paper to scale, 
and (3) build it up from the plan as the picture is 
called. By working this way you will be able to figure 
out just how much material you will need for it; see 
exactly how the various parts fit together, and know 
that it will look just right when it is done. 

Drawing Tools You Should Have. — Drawing 
instruments, or draiving tools as they are commonly 
called, consist for the most part of ( i ) one or more 
pairs of dividers; (2) one or more pairs of compasses 



RULING PEN 



LENGTHENING 
B/JR 



PEN FOR 
COMP/I5S 



DIVIDERS 




LBWS/NBOX 



BOW PEN 



COMPASS PENCIL IN COMPASS 

Fig. 46. THE DRAWING TOOLS YOU NEED 



with pen and pencil points, and (3) one or more rid- 
ing pens. One of each of the above tools will be 
enough for you to begin with. A cheap set is shown 
in Fig. 46. 

Then you will need (4) a rule, or scale as it is 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 113 

called; (5) a protractor; (6) a T square 20 inches 
long; (7) a 30 degree triangle 5 inches long; (8) 
some drawing paper ^'^ not less than 10x12 inches; 

(9) a couple of medium hard (HHH) lead pencils,"^^ 

(10) a good rubber eraser ;^^ (11) a bottle of Hig- 
gins' India ink,^'^ (12) a few thumb tacks, and (13) a 
drawing board about 12x17 inches. And now let's 
see what these tools and other things are for and how 
they are used. 

A pair of dividers is a tool having hinged legs, the 
free ends of which are pointed; they are used to take, 
mark off and subdivide distances. 

The compasses are made like the dividers, but one 
end has a needle point and the other is hollow so that 
either a pencil or a drawing pen point can be slipped 
into it; this tool is used to draw curves and circles, 
either with a pencil or in ink. 

A ruling pen is formed of two bowed steel blades 
having a screw adjustment so that they can be forced 
together or drawn apart and so make lines of varying 
widths. Not only is a ruling pen different from a 
writing pen but the ink that is used with it is thicker 
than an ordinary writing ink. This pen is used to 
make straight lines by running it along the edge of 
a rule or T square, 

A protractor is a semi-circle of brass or of German 

34 Get a 2-ply bristol board with a medium or smooth surface. 
^^ Koh-i-noor or Venus pencils are good ones. 
3« Get Faber's fed rubber Van Dyke. 

3'^ This is a prepared India ink but you can make your own by 
rubbing up stick India ink with water. 



114 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

silver and it is divided into i8o degrees — since it is 
half of a circle and there are 360 degrees in a circle. 
You can buy one for a quarter. 

By placing the edge of your rule in the center of the 
straight edge of the protractor and laying it on any 
one of the lines — they are numbered from o to 180 
— you will find the number of degrees the edge of the 
rule is from the horizontal 




Fig. 47. THE T SQUARE AND TRIANGLE ON THE DRAWING BOARD 

The T square is laid with the head, that is the 
short thick piece, against the left hand edge of the 
drawing board which brings the blade, that is the long 
thin piece flat on and across the board. The triangle is 
placed against the straight edge. The triangle is laid 
on the board with one of its edges against the blade 
of the T square as shown in Fig. 47. 

Simple Working Drawings. — There are two 
kinds of working drawings that will be of use to you 
and these are, (i) plan drawings, and (2) isometric 
(pronounced i-so-mef-ric) drazvings and you will find 
both of these quite easy to do. 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 115 

Making Plan Drawings. — Suppose now you want to 
draw the plans of a box which, let's imagine, is to be 
5 inches high, 6 inches wide and 8 inches long. The 
first thing to do is to draw out a view of the bottom, 
which also serves as the top since they are alike, and 
you will have a rectangle like that shown at A in 
Fig. 48, and mark the dimensions on it, that is, the 



TOP 8c 8 07 TO Af 



"r---x. 



vo 



X 



8' 



■^, 



8 


■y 


c 


SJDES 




£NDS 



Fig. 48A. THE PLAN DRAWINGS FOR A BOX 



width and the length of the box. This you do by run- 
ning a couple of arrows in each direction and marking 
in the size. 

Next draw one of the sides as shown at B and this 
will give you the height and the length of the box and 
mark in the sizes, that is 5 and 8 inches accordingly. 
Finally draw the end and you will have the height and 
width of the box as shown at C and again you mark in 
the dimensions. 

It is easy to see now that if you have all three di- 



ii6 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



mensions, namely lengthy breadth and thickness, and 
that if you make a box in wood or metal it will look 
like the picture shown at D which is in isometric per- 
spective. 







^ 


'f 


* 


^S. ^^^x^^ 




« 


\ 


r 


>-'" 








D >^' 

.... ..... '. * i^_ __"__. . «_. . . •., 



Fig. 48D. THE BOX drawn in isometric perspective 

Isometric Perspective Drawings. — The kind of per- 
spective drawings I told you how to do under the 
caption of Drawing in Perspective is true perspective 
but engineers do drawings which they call isometric 
perspective, that is, while the object seems to stand 
out in relief there are no vanishing points. 

This kind of perspective is purely mechanical and 
not in the least artistic but it is a great aid when you 
intend to make anything, for you can still draw the 
lines to scale and see exactly how the finished object 
will look. 

To make a drawmg of this kind draw a line on a 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 117 

sheet of paper near the bottom and two 30 degree 
Hnes from the ends and a vertical line through them 
where they meet as shown at A in Fig. 49. 

Now there are four ways by which you can get the 
30 degree lines on paper and these are (i) to buy 
isometric ruled paper, that is paper on which the lines 
are already ruled; you can buy this paper for 15 cents 
a quire of any dealer in drawing materials or of 
Keuffel and Esser, 127 Fulton Street, New York City. 
This is the easiest and best way. 



90' 




leo 

Fig. 49A. HOW the lines for isometric drawings are made 



(2) Take a sheet of white paper exactly 5/^ inches 
wide and 10 inches long and draw two diagonal lines 
from corner to corner so that they will cross each 
other, than draw a vertical line through the middle and 
a horizontal line near the bottom. The diagonal 
and horizontal lines will be 30 degrees apart. 

(3) By laying a 30 degree triangle on your T square 
and drawing a line along the 30 degree side of it as 



ii8 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



shown in Fig. 47; and (4) by laying off 30 degree 
lines with a protractor. 

To do this tack a sheet of paper on your drawing 
board and draw a horizontal line near the bottom of 
the paper with your T square ; put your protractor on 
the horizontal line near one end, lay the edge of the 
rule on the center of the protractor and exactly on the 
30 degree scale mark and then draw a line. 




Fig. 49B. a sheet of isometric drawing paper 



Slide the protractor on the opposite side of the 
board, draw another 30 degree diagonal line so that 
it will cross the first one and draw a vertical line down 
through the middle of the paper. 

Having, now, your sheet of isometric ruled paper 
you are ready to do the drawing. Whatever the pic- 
ture is to be, all you need to do is to follow the 30 
degree lines and the vertical lines and you simply 
can't help getting it in perspective. 

In drawing isometric perspective circles, such as 
wheels, disks and the like, they are always shown as 
ellipses, that is, closed oblong curves. To draw an 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 119 

isometric ellipse, ^^ make it in the proportion of % to i, 
that is, if it is % inch wide, as we will call its minor 
axis, then make it i inch long, as we will call its 
major axis, as shown at C in Fig. 49, and you will 
have one that is near enough the right shape for your 
purpose; thus if you want to show a tube or a pipe, 
draw it as pictured at C. Now with these few prin- 




FlG. 49c. THE PROPORTIONS OF AN ISOMETRIC ELLIPSE 

ciples well in mind you can make a working drawing 
of nearly anything you please. 



Some Simple Aids to Drawing 

How to Draw a Circle. — Should you ever want to 
draw a circle and have no compasses at hand or should 
you want to draw a larger circle than you can with 
your compasses tie a bit of strong thread to a pin, 
make a loop in the string at whatever length you want 

38 A more complete description of isometric ellipses will be 
found in Inventing for Boys by the present author and published 
by Frederick A. Stokes Co., of New York. 



120 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



the radius — that is half of the diameter of the circle 
— to be. 

This done, drive the pin in at the point where you 
want the center of the circle, put the point of a 
lead pencil in the loop and move it around the pin, as 
shown at A in Fig. 50, keeping the thread taut and a 
perfect circle, nearly, will result. 




Fig. 50A. HOW to draw a circle with a thread 



How to Draw a Spiral. — Make a loop in one end 
of a thread as before and tie the other end tightly to 
a large pin; wind the thread around the pin until all of 
it is on except the loop; push the pin through the 
paper on which you want to draw the spiral and into 
the drawing board as shown at B. 

Next put the point of the pencil in the loop and 
move it around the pin just as you did in making the 
circle and you will find that you have drawn a very 
pretty geometrical spiral which is known as the spiral 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 121 

of Archimedes. It is so called because Archimedes 
was the first to explain that it was caused by a point 
moving with uniform angular speed and receding from 
the center at a constant rate. 




Fig. 50B. HOW to draw a spiral with a thread 

How to Draw an Ellipse. — An ellipse can be 
drawn in the same way as a circle, that is, by means 
of a string; but instead of one pin you will need two 
and each pm is driven in at the foci of the ellipse you 
are to draw as shown at C. Simply make a loop of 
the string, slip it over the pins, put the pencil point 
in the loop and move it around the pins when an 
ellipse will be formed. 

How to Make and Use a Pantagraph. — A panta- 
graph is a simple mechanical linkage for enlarging, 
copying or reducing the size of a picture. It is shown 
in Fig. 51. • 

To make one of these instruments get four strips of 
wood about % inch thick, Y2 an inch wide, and 18 or 



122 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



20 inches long. Now drill Mg inch holes % inch apart 
in each stick the whole length of it. In the ends of 




Fig. 50c. HOW to draw an ellipse with a thread 

three of the sticks make a hole the size of a lead 
pencil. 

Make two tin tubes each % an inch long and fit them 



ZO" 



SCREW 




PICTURE 

PJCTURE 

PIVOT 
HERE 



Fig. 51. how a pantagraph is made and used 

into the holes in the ends of the sticks and push a bit 
of pencil through each tube; screw a block of wood 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 123 

% an inch thick to your drawing board and screw one 
end of another stick to the block and the sticks to- 
gether with screw eyes. 

Now tack a sheet of paper under the pencil in the 
free end of the stick and a picture under the pencil 
in the jointed ends of the sticks, then trace the pic- 
ture with the latter, and the other pencil will make an 
enlargement of the picture. By changing the position 
of the sticks a picture can be copied or reduced in the 
same way. A pantagraph can be bought for as little 
as 25 cents or for as much as $125.00.^^ 




Fig. 52. HOW a reflecting drawing board is made and used 

How to Make a Reflecting Drawing Board. — 
This is a very simple and easily made optical apparatus 
for copying pictures and making drawings of flat ob- 
jects. Get -a smooth board, or your drawing board 

39 A pantagraph can be bought of any dealer in art supplies or 
drawing materials. 



124 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

will do; make a wood frame and fit an 8 x lo sheet of 
clear glass in it and screw the frame to the middle 
of the board as shown in Fig. 52. 

Now all you have to do is to lay a picture or a flat 
object, such as a leaf or a butterfly, on one side of 
the glass and a sheet of paper on the other side and 
look into the glass at a sharp slant, or acute angle 
would be the better term, and you will see the picture 
projected plainly on the paper so that you can easily 
draw it in with a pencil. 

How to Make Tracings. — A very easy and ef- 
fective way to copy any picture already drawn, or 
even a photograph, in line, is to use tracing paper. 

This kind of paper, which you can buy of any 
dealer in drawing materials, is quite transparent and 
very tough. To make a tracing lay the drawing you 
want to copy on your drawing board, then lay the 
tracing paper on top of it, rough side up, and push a 
thumb tack into each corner to hold them together. 

Now trace the outline of the picture with a pen- 
cil and then draw in the lines with India ink. If the 
paper does not take the ink readily rub the surface of 
it with a little powdered chalk on a soft rag. You 
can make as many duplicate copies as you want by 
using a printing frame and hlue paper according to the 
directions given in the next chapter. 

To Make Lasting Impressions. — Here is an easy 
way to make lasting impressions of your own and 
your friends' finger prints and hands. 

Take a sheet of heavy glazed white paper, say 5x7 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 125 

inches, and hold it over a kerosene lamp with the 
chimney removed and the top of the burner thrown 
back so that the flame will smoke like a locomotive. 




Fig. 53. A LASTING CARBON (sOOT) IMPRESSION OF YOUR HAND 

Keep moving the paper about to make the soot, whicli 
is simpl)^ particles of nearly pure carbon, cover the 
surface of the paper as evenly as possible. 



126 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Lay the smoked paper on a table and then press the 
palm of your hand flat down on it; you must be care- 
ful not to press your fingers down too hard or the 
sharpness of the fine lines will be destroyed. To get 
a clear impression of the lines in the hollow of your 
hand press down on the back of it with the fingers of 
your other hand. 

After you have made the print, as the impression is 
called, pour on some flint varnish, which is the kind 
that photographers use to cover the films of glass 
negatives. You can buy it at any photo supply house. 

Pour a teaspoon ful on one corner of the paper and 
let it flow down and across until the whole surface 
is evenly covered. As this is a genuine carbon process 
the prints cannot fade and they will last as long as the 
paper lasts. A print of this kind made by the author 
1 8 years ago is shown in Fig. 53. 

The Ancient and Honored Art of Cutting Silhou- 
ettes. — Since you are of the younger generation let 
me tell you just what a silhouette is, and why. 

It is a profile, or side view, of the head of a person 
cut out of black paper and mounted on a white card, 
or else cut out of white paper with a piece of black 
silk back of it so that it looks like a shadow in minia- 
ture of the sitter. 

It was so called after M. de Silhouette, a French 
Minister of Finance in 1759; his rigid economy in the 
conduct of his office caused his name to be tacked on 
to everything cheap and as photography had not yet 
been discovered and painted portraits were costly, the 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 127 

paper outlines filled in with black were the cheapest 
substitute known and hence the name. 

But as the years rolled by silhouettes became a dig- 
nified and honored art and so when our great grand- 
father and grandmother wanted to have their pictures 
made — not taken — they went to a shears and paste 
artist who cut out their silhouettes. 





Fig. 54. SILHOUETTES OF YOUR GREAT-GRAND-PA AND GREAT-GRAND- 
MA (when they were young) 

While the art of cutting silhouettes is all but a lost 
one because photography is so easy and shows all the 
details, still you can make them with some black glazed 
paper and a pair of sharp shears with a little practice. 

Take a sheet of black glazed paper '^^ about 2 inches 
wide and 3 inches long and seat your sitter with the 
side of his or her face turned toward you. Now with 

40 Glazed paper can be bought at stationery stores or you can 
get it from Dennison Mfg. Co., 5th Ave. and 26th St., N. Y. C. 



128 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

a pair of sharp shears begin to cut the paper, starting 
at the chin and going on up the face to the hair, then 
around to the back of the head and finally cutting out 
the collar and bust. 

All the time you are cutting you must keep your 
artistic eye on the profile of your sitter and your me- 
chanical eye on your shears and paper and you will 
be truly surprised to find how little knack it takes to 
get a reasonably faithful likeness. A pair of silhou- 
ettes are shown in Fig. 54. 

Transfer Pictures, or Decalcomania. — Of course 
you know what transfer pictures are. There are very 
few boys indeed who have not bought and used little 
5 cent packages of jim-crow transfer pictures and you 
will remember that usually only about half of the 
picture transferred came off. But this was because 
they were made for fun and not for real work. 

Now transfer pictures, or decalcomania (pronounced 
de-cal'co-ma'-ni-a) or decalcomanic as the French call 
it, from the Latin de which means down, plus calqiicr, 
which is Latin for trace, plus mania which is Greek 
for madness, are used by hundreds of thousands 
by painters and decorators in every line of work. 
These pictures are made with skill and care and when 
used properly will not break or come off. 

These transfer pictures can be bought in 10,000 
different subjects and cost from 1% cents to a couple 
of dollars each. The pictures include every subject 
imaginable from simple little flowers to birds with 
wonderful plumage and from cupids in groups to 



DRAWING SIMPLY EXPLAINED 129 

world's fair buildings ; then there are letters and mono- 
grams and beautiful crests and coats-of-arms in gold 
and brilliant colors. 

When you get ready to do decalcomanie write to 
Palm, Fechteler and Company, 67 Fifth Avenue, New 
York, or to their western branch at 54 West Lake 
Street, Chicago, Ills., for a price-list and this will give 
you a description, the height and length of each pic- 
ture, the number of pictures on a sheet and the price 
per sheet. 

Hoiv to Transfer the Pictures. — The regular pic- 
tures can be transferred to wood, metal, painted sur- 
faces, etc., but instead of soaking them in water alone 
as you used to with the toy pictures you give the face 
of them a very thin coat of a good, quick drying, rub- 
bing varnish which you can get at a paint store, or 
better, use a transfer varnish which you can buy of 
the above company for 35 cents for a V2 pint can. 

After you have applied the varnish to the face of 
the picture let it dry until it is very tacky; now put 
the face of the transfer down on the surface, wet it 
with water on a sponge and roll it down hard with a 
felt roller. 

In a couple of minutes wet the paper again thor- 
oughly with water and peel it off ; roll it down at once 
with a wet felt roller and tap it off with a piece of 
chamois skin. After the design or picture has dried 
for 20 minutes or so, the varnish around it can be 
removed by dampening it with dilute turpentine, am- 
monia or, better, with a detergent made of equal 



130 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

parts of turpentine and crude oil and immediately 
rubbing it away lightly and quickly with a dry, soft 
rag. 

After the picture has been transferred as above, it 
should be given one or more protecting coats of var- 
nish the next day. 



CHAPTER VI 

SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 

Since the slogan you press the button and we'll do 
the rest has come to be so well known everybody makes 
photographs. But there are a number of kinks in and 
side issues of photography that are amusing, instruc- 
tive or useful and which if you do not already know 
about will prove of service to you. 




Fig. 55. A PHOTO printing frame 

How to Make Blue Prints.— This is the very sim- 
plest and one gf the most useful kinds of photography. 
You need but very little material to make the pictures 
with and the little you need will cost less than a dollar. 

131 



132 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

The Materials Required. — Buy, or you can make, 
(i) a 5 X 7 printing frame as shown in Fig. 55 and 
get a sheet of clear glass to fit it, and (2) a couple of 
dozen sheets of 5 x 7 blue-paper ^'^ which you can buy 
at any photographic supply house. 

Now take one of the drawings you have made on 
tracing paper or on tracing cloth with India ink as I 
described in the last chapter and lay it with its inked 
surface on the glass; lay on this a sheet of blue-paper 
with its sensitised side on the tracing paper or cloth; 
put the back of the printing frame on top of the blue- 
paper, press the springs into place and set the frame 
in the sunlight. 

Every few minutes open a half of the hinged back 
of the printing frame and take a look at the blue 
paper to see if the printing is far enough along. 
When the lines of the drawing show plainly on it 
take the print out of the frame and wash it, as it is 
called, by letting water run on it or by putting it 
through several changes of water. 

When it is well washed hang it up on a line by a 
corner to dry and you will have a good, clear print 
with white lines on a blue ground. In this way by 
using a negative that you have made with a camera, 
especially if it is a marine view, you can get some very 
pretty and artistic pictures. 

Another Kind of Contact Printing. — If you like 

*i You can make blue print paper by dissolving ammonium 
ferric citrate in warm water and coating the surface of the paper 
with it by floating it on top of the solution. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 133 

nature you can use the above process of contact print- 
ing to fine advantage. Instead of blue paper it is bet- 
ter to use what is known as solio paper ^^ or silver 
pa per. '^^ 

To make a contact silver print first put a finely 
veined leaf, the filmy wing of a butterfly, a piece of 
delicate lace or any other thin, translucent object on 
the glass in the printing frame, lay a sheet of solio, 
or silver paper over it, then put the back in the frame 
and fix the springs. 

Set the frame so that the sunlight will fall full on 
the glass side of it. From time to time open half of 
the hinged back and see how the print is coming on; 
make the print a couple of shades darker than you 
want it when finished, but be careful not to overexpose 
it for silver paper prints much quicker than blue paper. 

To Tone and Fix the Picture. — To tone a silver 
print means to change its color and give it more 
brilliancy and this is done by putting it in a chemical 
solution made of chloride of gold, or toning bath as it 
is called. 

To fix a print means to treat it so that the light wall 
no longer act upon it and this is done with a solution 
of hyphosulphite of soda or just hypo as it is called 
for short. 

The easiest way to tone and fix your silver prints 
is to buy a bottle of solio toning solution'*''^ which is 

*2 Solio paper is* coated first with gelatin and then with silver. 
*^ Silver paper is coated first with albumen and then with 
silver. 
**It can be bought at any store where photographic materials 



134 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

a combined toning and fixing bath. Take the print 
from the frame and do not wash it but put it into a 
tray in which you have mixed 2 ounces of solio toning 
solution and 4 ounces of cold water- 

When the print takes on the proper color put it into 
another tray containing a solution made of J ounce of 
salt and J2 ounces of water; let it stay in this bath for 
5 minutes to stop the toning. Now put the print into 
another tray and wash it in 16 changes of water or in 
running water for an hour. If you make a half or a 
dozen prints at once you can tone and fix them at the 
same time. 

Recipe for a Combined Toning and Fixing SoCu- 
tion. — To make a combined toning and fixing bath 
mix up two solutions, called stock solutions, as fol- 
lows: 

Stock Solution A. — Dissolve in 20 ounces of cold 
water 2 ounces of hypo, 1Y2 ounces of alum in crystals 
and % an ounce of granulated sugar. Then dissolve 
% 'an ounce of borax in 2 ounces of hot water and 
mix it with the hypo solution; let it stand over night 
and then pour off the clear liquid. 

Stock Solution B. — Dissolve % of a grain of pure 
chloride of gold and 32 grains of acetate of lead in 4 
ounces of water. 

Now when you want to tone a picture or half a 
dozen 4x5 prints, take 4 ounces of the stock solution 
A and % an ounce of the stock solution B and pour 

are sold or you can make it yourself from the formula given on 
this page. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 135 

them into a tray and tone them as I have previously 
described. 

The Simplest Kind of a Camera. — When you can 
buy a real camera for two or three dollars it seems of 
little use to make one, so just consider the camera I 
shall describe as a scientific curiosity rather than an 
apparatus of utility. 



A 



yBOX 



PLATE 



TINFO/L M; 
PINHOLE^ 



!L ]p/^^/A^y'y>y//y', / / /y> ^^ / /)/ //^^/^/J ///, 



S' 



i 



SHUTTER LEVER 
'^'^PlWTHERE 



^ OF' ' 

C/IMERM 




>; 

SHUTTER LEVER OPEN 
TO EXPOSE PL/iTE 

SHUTTER LEVER CLOSED 
/^ND RESTING ON PIN STOP 



Fig. 56. AN EASILY MADE PIN-HOLE CAMERA 

A. Cross section showing the notched strips. 

B. The way the shutter works. 



To make a pin-hole camera, so called because a pin 
hole takes the place of a lens, form a box of pasteboard 
or of thin wood 4 inches square and 8 inches long; 
cut a hole % of an inch in diameter in one end for 
the pin hole. Fit a strip of wood % an inch thick 
and 4 inches Ibng, having notches cut into it to a 
depth of % inch, to the sides of the box as shown 
at A in Fig. 56. These notched strips are to hold a 



136 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

sensitised dry plate ^^ Next make a shutter, that is, 
a little device to open and close the pin-hole; it is 
simply a bit of sheet brass 2/4 inches long, % inch 
wide at one end and M an inch wide at the other end 
as shown at B. Drill a hole Vs inch in diameter in the 
center of the strip of brass and pivot this to the front 
of the box so that it is on a horizontal line with the 
center of the hole. 

Now to make the pin-hole, and certainly no pin- 
hole was ever more important than this one. Glue a 
thick piece of nice smooth tinfoil over the hole on the 
inside of the box and with a fairly good-sized pin, 
or better a needle, prick a smooth hole in the center 
of it. 

You are ready now to take a picture and to do so 
slip a sheet of ground glass "^^ into the grooves in the 
camera up close and then farther back until you can 
see the picture plain. This done take the camera into 
your dark-room,'^'^ and load a dry plate into it, put 
the cover on the box and. fasten a black cloth over it 
with a rubber-band as shown at C in Fig. 56. 

Go out and point your camera at the object you 
want to photograph, be it a landscape, a seascape or a 
scapegoat, press down on the lever for a second, let 

*^ A dry plate is a sheet of glass coated on one side with gela- 
tin and bromide of silver which makes it sensitive to light. 

*^ You will find directions for making it in Chapter IX. 

^^ A dark room must be used because a ray of any kind of 
light except red will spoil a dry plate the instant it strikes it. A 
red-lamp can be bought for a quarter or you can make one and 
either use a sheet of red glass or red dark-room paper. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 137 

go of it when It will drop back and cover the pin-hole 
again and the exposure is made. 

How to Develop a Dry Plate. — Next take your 
camera into your dark-room and develop the plate, 
that is, immerse it in a chemical solution called a 
developer to bring the picture out on it. To do this 
you must get a tray and put the exposed dry-plate in 
it, film side up, and pour the developer over it. 




Fig s6c. the pin-hole camera complete with cloth and 

rubber band 



Rock the tray after you have poured the developer 
over the plate to keep the solution flowing forth and 
back evenly over it all the time. When you see the 
image very plainly take the plate out of the developer, 
wash it in clean water and then lay it with the film 
side up in a tray containing the fixing hath. 



138 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Let the negative — when the plate is exposed and 
developed it is called a negative — remain in the fixing 
bath until all the v^hite parts, that is, the free silver 
which was not affected by the light, have disappeared 
and then let a gentle stream of water run on it for an 
hour or wash it in 1 6 changes of clean water. Stand 
it in a negative rack over night to dry and then you 
can make prints from it. 

How to Make the Developer. — You can make a 
good, tried and true developer in two solutions as fol- 
lows: 

Pyro Solution, A. — Take i ounce of pyrogallic 
acid, called pyro for short, dissolve it in 28 ounces 
of water and then add 20 minims of sulphuric acid. 

Soda Solution, B. — Dissolve 2 ounces of desic- 
cated ^^ carbonate of soda and 3 ounces of sulphite of 
soda in 28 ounces of water. 

When you want to develop a plate mix % an ounce 
of the pyro solution and % an ounce of the soda solu- 
tion with 4 ounces of water and to do this you need a 
graduated glass: 

How to Make a Fixing Bath.— To make a good fix- 
ing bath for dry plates dissolve i ounce of hypo, 60 
grains of sulphite of soda in crystals and Y^ ounce of 
borax in 20 ounces of water. A developer can only 
be used for one or two plates but you can fix 50 plates 
in the same fixing bath. 

A Good and Cheap Camera. — To take real pic- 

^^ Desiccate means thoroughly dry. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 139 

tures you want a real camera. Now there are many 
kinds of hand cameras but there is only one size that 
I am going to try to interest you in and that is one 
which will make pictures 3H x 4% inches. 

With a camera of this size you can take nicely 
proportioned little pictures to give to your friends, to 
keep in your album, to make enlargements of and to 
make lantern slides of by direct contact printing and 
this will save you a lot of trouble. 





A B 

Fig. 57. two cheap and good cameras 

A. A Brownie box kodak. 

B. A folding kodak. 

The cheapest S}i x 4I4 camera you can buy is a No. 
3 Brownie box kodak,^^ see A Fig. 57, which costs 
about $3.00. A folding No. 3 Brownie camera, shown 
at B, will serve your needs much better and this one 
will cost you in the neighborhood of $5.50, or you can 

4» These cameras can be bought most anywhere or you can send 
to the Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y. 



140 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

buy a Graflex camera ^^ for $75.00 if father is rich 
and mother doesn't care. 

Every good camera has what is called a rectilinear 
lens, that is, a compound lens formed of two achro- 
matic lenses, which means that each acromatic lens is 
made up again of two lenses one of which is of crown 
glass and the other is of Hint glass, and these two 
latter lenses are cemented together with Canada 
balsam.^^ 

Now whereas a common convex lens will produce 
all the colors of the rainbow around its edges when a 
ray of light passes through it, an acromatic lens lets 
through only the white light and while a single convex 
lens makes the straight lines of a building curved in 
the picture, an acromatic lens keeps all the lines 
straight, or rectilinear, and hence its name. 

These little cameras are filled with mechanical snap 
shutters and they use roll films, that is the sensitive 
silver and gelatine emulsion is spread on a thin cel- 
luloid film instead of on glass plates. These roll films 
come on spools in lengths of % and i dozen each and 
they can be loaded into the camera in daylight. The 
same kind of developing and fixing solutions are used 
for films that are used for dry-plates. 

How to Make an Enlarging Apparatus. — To 
make an enlarged picture of a small negative take 

50 With this kind of a camera you can see the object you are 
photographing up to the very instant you snap the shutter. 

51 This is a clear gum that is obtained from a tree called the 
Canada balsam. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 141 

out the back of your camera and get two perfectly 
clear sheets of glass to fit the opening. 

Make a box of ^ inch thick wood, 6 inches wide, 
6 inches long and 7 inches high and have the top of it 
separate so that it can be lifted off and put on the 
box. In the middle of the top near one edge cut a 
hole i}i inches in diameter and put an electric light 
socket — to which a cord and plug is fixed — in it 
as far as it will go and then screw in a nitrogen 100 



C/c'OSS SECT/ON 
OFTHETOP OF 




Fig. 58A. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS 

The lamp set in the top of the illuminating box. 

watt electric lamp ^^ which gives about 75 candle 
power, as shown at A in Fig. 58. 

Cut a hole out of the front board 3% x 4H inches 
and fasten a sheet of ground glass ^^ or, better, of 
opal glass ^^ over the opening. Get a sheet of bright 

52 The Delco Light Co., 52 Park Place, New York, sells these 
lamps and all other electrical supplies. 

53 Ground glass can be bought at a glazier's or you can make it 
as explained in Chapter IX. 

5* Opal glass. 



142 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

tin 6 inches wide and lo inches long, bend it into a 
semi-circle and set it in the box so that it will reflect 
the light from the lamp in front of it through the 
ground glass screen as shown at B. 

Next make a stand for holding the bromide paper ^^ 
which is to be used for the enlargement. About the 
easiest way to do this is to take a i inch thick board 
6 inches wide and saw off a piece 12 inches long. 
Fasten your drawing board to it with a couple of 
angle blocks as shown at D, and you are ready to make 
an enlargement. 

How to Make an Enlargement. — When you have 
the apparatus ready set the camera and the illuminator, 
as the box with the light in it is called, on another 
table. Put the negative between two plain sheets of 
glass and then fasten them to the camera with a 
couple of large rubber bands; set the illuminator with 
the ground-glass screen close up against the negative 
in the back of the camera, as shown at C. 

Now set the drawing board stand about 4 feet away 
from the lens of the camera to make an 8x10 en- 
largement. Open the shutter, turn on the light and 
focus the camera, that is, move the stand to and from 
the camera until the enlarged picture is sharp. When 
you get it so, close the shutter and cover up the cracks 
where the light leaks through with a dark cloth. 

Make the room perfectly dark except for your dark- 
room light and then put a sheet of bromide paper on 

25 Bromide paper is a paper sensitized with a compound of sil- 
ver and bromine. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 143 



the drawing board with thumb tacks. Open the shut- 
ter of the lens and expose the paper to the hght passing 
through the negative and then close it again. The 
bromide paper is developed and fixed just like a dry 
plate when your enlargement is done. 

In handling bromide paper you must be almost as 
careful as you are with dry plates or films. Before 



/LLUniNJ^TOR. 



..y\ 



SCREEN 




Fig. 58B. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS 

B. The illuminator showing the tin reflector in it. 

C. The camera. 

D. The stand for holding the bromide paper. 

making a picture it is a good scheme to test the length 
of time to expose the paper. To do this take a sheet 
of bromide paper and cut it into strips i inch wide and 
10 inches long; fasten a strip at a time diagonally 
across the board and expose the first one for say 5 
minutes and then develop it, when you can usually 
tell about how long the exposure should be. 

A Developer for Bromide Paper. — A good stock 
solution developer for bromide paper, velox paper, 



144 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



films and dry plates can be made by adding these 
chemicals to 25 ounces of hot water in the order named 
and stirring in each one until it is dissolved; elon Vs 
ounce; dessiccated sulphite of soda 1% ounces; hydro- 
chinon V2 ounce; desiccated carbonate of soda 5-^ 
ounces ; potassium bromide 30 grains and wood alcohol 
3 ounces. 

V/^ REFLECTOR 



^ 



/VEG/7T/VE 
•GOES HERE 



ELECTRI 
1 • O » ^^^^ ^/w 

\ \ / socket] 




THE ILLUMINfJTOfi 



Fig. 58c. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS 

E. Cross section top view of the enlarging apparatus. 

This developer will keep for a long time if the 
bottle containing it is kept full, otherwise the air will 
act on it. To develop six 8 x 10 bromide prints use i 
ounce of the stock solution and 6 ounces of water. 

To fix bromide prints keep them moving in a bath 
made by dissolving 8 ounces of hypo in 2 quarts of 
water and then adding 1/4 ounce of metabisulphite of 
potassium and % ounce of powdered alum. Let the 
prints remain in this bath for about 10 minutes and then 
wash them thoroughly. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 145 

How to Make a Reflectoscope. — A reUectoscope 
is a kind of magic lantern but instead of using trans- 
parent glass slides you can use any picture or opaque 
object such as the works of a watch, your hand, etc, 
and throw an image of it on the screen. 

If you have a folding camera ^^ you can convert it 



L/iMP. 




— PICTURE /3 
\ HELD HERE 



DOTTED ^ 

LIfiES INDIC/ITE 
/^ELECTOR 



Fig. 59 A CHEAPLY MADE REFLECTOSCOPE 

A. The projector. 

B. The ilhiminator 



into a dandy reflectoscope, so get busy with your 
tools. Make a box — it is really two boxes fastened 
together — of the peculiar shape shown in Fig. 59, 
and it can be of wood or of metal as you wish. 

First make the larger box, which we will call the 
projector, and this should be 4/^ inches long, 5 inches 

^*A box camera can not be used because it's focus is fixed. 



146 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



wide and 5 inches high ^^ — and leave the front, back 
and one side off. To the top and bottom fasten on 
two wood cleats % an inch square and 5 inches long 
to fix the projector to the camera with. This box 
is shown at A in Fig. 59. 




5'9C. A CROSS SECTION TOP VIEW OF THE REFLECTOSCOPE 



This done, make another box for the illuminator 3 
inches wide, 3 inches long on one side, and 4% inches 
long on the other side, and 5 inches high. Bend a 
piece of bright tin for the reflector and set this in the 
back as shown at B. 

Cut a iH inch hole through the top for an electric 
lamp as described in the directions for making an en- 
larging lantern; the top should be tight fitting but so 

57 It must fit the back of your camera. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 147 

made that it can be taken off and put on at your 
pleasure. 

Now glue, screw, solder or otherwise fix the two 
boxes together and the reflecting part of the apparatus 
is done. To complete it fasten the back of your 
camera to the cleats on the top and bottom of the 
box with strong rubber bands as shown at C, which 
is a top view of the reflectoscope. 




Fig. 59D. THE REFLECTOSCOPE READY FOR USE 

To Use the Reflectoscope. — Tack a white sheet to 
the wall and set the reflectoscope at a distance of about 
10 feet from it with the lens pointing toward it, of 
course. 

Next turn on the light in the box and turn off all 
the lights in the room and make it as dark as you can. 
Hold a picture of any kind against the opening in the 
back of the projector box and then focus the camera 



148 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

until the picture on the screen is as sharp as you can 
get it. 

The way the reflectoscope works is like this: the 
picture is projected upon the screen in virtue of the 
fact that the direct light from the lamp, as well as 
that portion of it which is reflected back by the tin, is 
thrown against the surface of the picture or object 
held in the opening; from this the light is reflected 
through the lens which enlarges it and projects it on 
the screen. 

How to Make a Magic Lantern. — To make a 
magic lantern out of a camera is just as easy as it is 
to make a reflectoscope but you will have to buy a 
condensing lens^^ and this will cost 50 cents to $1.00, 
according to size. 

For this lantern you can use either a box or a bel- 
lows camera, though the latter is better because the 
picture can be focused. Whichever you use make a 
base of a I inch thick board, 5% inches wide and 14 
inches long and nail or screw two strips of wood V2 
an inch wide, % inch high and 8 inches long along the 
edges on one side as shown at A in Fig. 60. 

If your camera is of the box kind set it in between 
the strips on the base on the front end, but if it is of 
the bellows type then you will have to make a shelf 
for it as shown at B to hold the camera in place as 
shown at C. 

58 The L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass., sells a 2 inch 
condensing lens for 50 cents; a 3 inch one for 75 cents, and a 
45^ inch one for $1.10. » 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 149 



Next make an illuminator as described above in the 
text How to Make an Enlarging Apparatus, but in- 
stead of covering the front with ground glass make 
a board to fit it and cut a hole in it the exact size of 
the condensing lens. This lens is a piano or a double 
convex lens as shown at D and while it should be 4% 
inches in diameter to get all of the picture on the 
screen you can use a lens as small as 2 inches though 
all of the picture will not show. 



RUBB£R.Bfim 




PU)NO DOUBLE 
CONVEX CONVEX 

C0ND£NSJNGL£NSE5 



AT 

ONE OF 
THEUJN- 
TBRNSUDE^ 
HOLDERS 



/f'-^i^ RUBBERBfiND 

THE FRAME TO HOLD f 
/} POCKET FOLDING ^J^ ^^^ 

CflMERffiS 
FIXED TO THE 

FRpns 



FRONTBO/IRD 
laUMlN/lTOR 



Fig. 60. THE PARTS OF A HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERN 

Cut out six clips of sheet brass %6 inch wide and 
% an inch long and punch a hole in the end of each 
piece. Screw three of these clips to each side of the 
board at equi-distant points around the hole so that the 
end of each one projects over the edge of the hole % 
inch. Now put the lens in the hole and adjust the 
ends of the clips so that they will hold the lens in place 
as shown at E. 



150 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



The next and last thing to do is to cut two strips of 
tin or brass i inch wide and 3 inches long and bend 
each one over the long way as shown at F; punch three 
holes near the lower edge of each one and screw one 
of them above and one below the condensing lens on 
the board 3M inches apart as shown at E. These 
bent strips form the holder for the lantern slides. The 
magic lantern complete is shown at G. 




Fig. 60G. THE MAGIC LANTERN READ\ FOR USE 



How to Work the Lantern. — Tack a bed-sheet up 
on the wall; turn on the light in the illuminator and 
turn off all the lights in the room; slip a lantern slide 
upside down in the holder and then push the rear end 
of the camera — having first taken out the back — 
close up to the lantern slide holder. 

If you are using a box camera move the whole 
lantern back until the picture is as large as you want 
it and it is still bright enough. If it is a pocket fold- 
ing camera you can focus it and get a picture with 
much better definition. 

How to Make Lantern Slides.-— A lantern slide is 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 151 

a sheet of glass with a transparent picture on it. A 
standard lantern slide is 3I4 x 4j4 inches and one of 
this size can be used in any full sized magic lantern or 
stereopticon.^^ 

To make lantern slides by direct contact printing is 
not a hard thing to do at all, and all the equipment 
you need to make them besides the chemicals is a 
printing frame. Put a sheet of clean glass in it and 
lay your negative on it with the film side up. 

Now lay the lantern slide plate ^^ with the film side 
doivn on the negative just as though you were going 
to make a print, but you must make it in your dark 
room, using a white light to expose it of course, for it 
is just as sensitive as a dry plate or a film. When 
you expose it hold the printing frame about 12 inches 
away from the light. 

A lantern slide plate is developed, fixed and washed 
exactly like a dry plate but to get the best results you 
should use the kind of developer called for in the 
directions that come with the plates. 

When you have the lantern slide made, place a sheet 
of clear glass of the same size — called the cover- 
glass — on the film side of it and bind the edges with 
passepartout binding, that is a strip of paper gummed 
on one side. It is then ready for use. 

How to Make Radium Photographs. — You can 
make radium photographs, or skiagraphs as they are 

^^ A stereopticon is really two magic lanterns, but the word is 
now often used to mean a high-grade magic lantern. 

60 Lantern slide plates can be bought at any photographic sup- 
ply house. 



152 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



called, with any one of a number of radioactive sub- 
stances and at a very small outlay. 

The four most important radioactive substances, if 
we except radium itself, are black uranium oxide, 
pitchblende, thorium nitrate and uranium nitrate. 
You can buy any one of these substances in a glass 
stoppered bottle for $i.oo or the set of four for 

While the radioactivity of these substances is low it 
is sufficient to make a shadow-picture — and this is all 
that an X-ray picture is — of a coin or other small 



UP/JN/UM ORE ON 3L/?CK 
ENVELOPE OUTS/DE LIGHT PROOF 
^ENVELOPE 




PHOTOSH/fDOW H/7LO 
ON NEGfiTtVE f^/JOEBY 

p/?ys 

CO/N ON DRY PL/)TE DRY^PinTF 
INSIDE OF ENVELOPE /nS/DEOF 

e/vvfl ope 
Fig. 6i. a photograph of a coin made with radium 

object if it is laid on top of a dry plate sealed in a 
black paper envelope, which is opaque to the light. 

That is, the coin is laid on the envelope containing 
the dry plate, and the bottle with the radioactive sub- 
stance in it is laid on top of the coin. Let them re- 
main undisturbed in this way for a couple of days and 
you will find on developing the plate a very good 
radiograph, or shadow picture of the coin as shown 
in Fig. 6i. 

«i The L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, carries these radio- 
active substances in stock. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 153 
Trick Photography 

Spirit Photographs. — When photography was 
young Sir John Herschel, the great astronomer, got 
up what he called magic photographs and these have 
been worked under the name of spirit photographs by 
half of the mediums in the business. 

The idea is to show the victim of superstition his 
future wife or her future husband. To this end the 
medium shows a piece of perfectly blank paper about 
an inch square. She — sometimes it's a he — then 
dips the bit of paper into a saucer of what seems 
to be ordinary, common every day water and with 
much dignity and mysticism presses it to the fore- 
head of the aforesaid ninny who would fain know 
what the partner of his, or her joys and sorrows will 
look like. (What's the use when they will know so 
well afterward?) 

Be that as it may, when the medium removes the bit 
of paper from the simpleton's forehead a photograph 
has really and truly appeared on it and — there you 
are! (Fifty cents, please.) 

Now the trick is done like this and you can have 
some fun repeating it. Print some photos postage- 
stamp size of boys and girls on ordinary silver paper 
and fix them in hypo dissolved in water but don't tone 
them; wash them well and then soak them in a 
saturated solution ^'^ of bichloride of mercury which 

61 A saturated solution of bichloride of mercury is one in which 
all of the mercury has been dissolved in the water that it will 
dissolve at its present temperature and pressure. 



154 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

will bleach out the picture and leave the paper perfectly 
white again; this done dry the paper and put it away 
until you want to use it. 

When you do, make a strong solution of hypo, soak 
the picture in it for a minute or two, press it to your 
subject's forehead and the picture will appear. 

One Way to Catch Big Fish. — Of course you 
know that when an object very near the camera is 
photographed it will look proportionately larger than 
when it is photographed a little way off from it. It 
is simply a case of exaggerated perspective. 

Hence the camera is an apparatus very well adapted 
for camouflage as the French call faking. You can 
easily try it out by having a friend lean back in a 
chair and put his feet on the table. (If the table is 
of highly polished mahogany request him kindly to 
take off his spurs first.) 

Stand your camera in front of him so that his feet 
will be nearest the lens and then take his picture. The 
result is that he will be about all boots and very little 
head. 

Another and deeper dyed trick is to photograph a 
fellow — choose one who is noted for his whaling 
yarns — with a fish dangling at the end of a pole and 
line as shown at A in Fig. 62. This will make the 
fish loom up as big as the cod in a Scott's Emulsion 
ad., and the boy will be the size of the lone fisher- 
man as shown at B. It will be some time before the 
scales will drop from the eyes of the person who is 
sizing up the picture. 



SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY 155 

You want to use a small stop in your lens when you 
make a picture of this kind so that the definition will 
be as sharp in the foreground as it is in the back- 
ground. 




Fig, 62. ONE WAY to catch a cod 

A. How it is done. 

B. How it looks when done. 

Taking Caricature Photographs. — The word 
caricature (pronounced care'-i-ca-ture) means a por- 
trait in which some part of it is distorted so that it 
produces a comical effect. 

Now there are a lot of ways to make photographic 
caricatures but one of the best is to use what is called 
a special foreground. This foreground is a sheet of 
cardboard or a piece of muslin stretched on a frame 
about 1% feet wide and 2H feet long. 

Draw on the cardboard or muslin any kind of a 
funny little body such as an anemic fellow in a bath- 
ing suit, or a lank athlete rowing in a tub, or a gilded 



156 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



youth riding a donkey; and finally cut out a place 
around his collar for the neck of the sitter. Seat 
your subject and have him hold the foreground as 
shown at C in Fig. 62 so that his head comes just 
above the collar of the picture and then take a photo- 
graph of him. 




Fig. 62c. HOW caricatures are made 

If nov^ the background — that is the ground back 
of the sitter — and the foreground — namely the one 
painted on the cardboard — are of the same shade 
you can trim the print so that it will look exactly as 
if your friend was in the Orient on his way to Mecca. 
(If you will keep this picture for 20 years the fellow 
who sat for it will gladly pay you a hundred dollars 
for it.) 



CHAPTER VII 
PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 

If there ever was a boy who did not want a printing 
press I have yet to meet him. Ever since the day 
when Gutenburg^^ invented movable types, and that 
was some 500 years ago, every boy — and not a few 
men — have wanted to set a few stickfuls of type and 
run off some impressions on a press, and many thou- 
sands of them have gratified that highly civilized am- 
bition. 

But you fellows of to-day have all the best of it, for 
you can buy a printing outfit complete for $1.50 on up 
to anything you want to pay for it. After all is said 
and done though, you can get more real enjoyment out 
of a small self-inking press than you can out of a 
larger one. Not only is there a lot of fun in print- 
ing cards, etc., for yourself but there is money in it 
too, if you go about it the right way, but that is 
another story. ^'^ 

Kinds of Printing Presses. — There are two kinds 

62 Johanne Gutenburg was a German printer. He invented 
movable types about the year of 1450. 

6^ To make money out of job-printing on a small scale read 
Money Making for Boys by the present author and published 
by Dodd, Mead and Co., New York City. 

157 



158 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

of printing presses made and these are ( i ) hand inked 
presses, and (2) self -inking presses. 

You can make a printing press out of wood but to 
do a good job you must have a press built of iron and 
properly machined, that is finished up, for to do good 
printing a good outfit is needed to begin with. 

Small hand inked and self -inking presses are sold 
in the toy departments of nearly all stores at prices 
ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 and this will include a 
font of type. Many of these little presses are made 
which use type about half the length of regular type 
and if you get a press of this kind you will never know 
the real joy of printing. 

The Parts of a Self-Inking Press. — The Excelsior 
is the name of a small self -inking printing press that 
has been on the market for 50 years and it is a good 
one. The description of it which follows will fit any 
other model self-inking press just as well, for they 
are all built on the same principle. 

There are seven chief parts to this press and these 
are (i) the body; (2) the type bed; (3) the platen; 
(4) the ink-roller carriage; (5) the ink table; (6) the 
chase, and (7) the handle, all of which are shown in 
Fig. 63. 

The body of the press serves to support all the 
other parts. The bed, as you will see, is really a part 
of the body casting and the feet of the type rest against 
it. For this reason it must be perfectly smooth and 
even, and it is planed off, that is machined, to make 
it so. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 159 



The platen is pivoted to the middle of the body and 
it swings up to and parallel with the bed and away 
from and out at an angle to it. The card, or sheet 
of paper to be printed is laid on the platen and is 
brought up and into contact with the type which rests 
on the bed. A pair of grippers are hinged to the 
platen to hold the paper in place while it is being 
printed but releases it when the platen moves back. 



/NKT/?Bl£ 
CH/)3£ 



ROLLER 
C/^RRI/fGE. 



iNK ROLLERS 




GR/PPE/^3 



^H/RNDLE 
P/IPERB/Jr^D 



PL/fTEN 

BAND ' QQ^y 

Fig. 63. A MODEL SELF-INKING PRINTING PRESS 



The ink-roller carriage is connected by levers to the 
platen and when the latter moves to and fro the 
rollers run over the type to ink it; the rollers 
get their ink from the ink table and this is a 
disk which revolves and on which the ink is spread; 
the ink table is made to revolve a little at a time so 
that the rollers will pass over every part of it in every 
direction and' so distribute the ink evenly. 

The type when set is locked in an iron frame called 



i6o HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

a chase and this fits on the bed ; and finally all the 
movable parts are coupled to the handle and when this 
is moved up and dov^n it makes them perform their 
various functions. 

How the Press Works. — Let's suppose nov^, that 
you have the type set in the chase and the chase is 
fixed in the press; that you have put some ink on the 
ink-table and a card or a sheet of paper on the platen. 

Nov^ when you press down on the handle it moves 
the platen up, the grippers hold the card, or sheet of 
paper to it, the arms pivoted to the platen pull the 
ink rollers up and over the type and on to the ink 
table which turns through a small arc, that is, part of 
a circle, by a ratchet so that it keeps a fresh surface 
exposed to the ink rollers all the time. 

When the card, or paper makes contact with the 
type you pull the handle up; this swings the platen 
back; the grippers relax their pressure; the ink-rollers 
move down over the face of the type; you take out 
the printed card or sheet with your left hand and put 
in a blank one with your right hand, when you are 
ready to make another impression. 

It may surprise you to know that any one can print 
from 500 to 600 cards an hour and if you are expert 
you can run off from 1,000 to 2,000 cards per hour. 

Sizes and Prices of Presses. — The Excelsior press 
comes in three sizes and the price depends on the size 
of the chase. ( i ) A press having a chase 3x5 inches 
costs $5.00 and this is large enough to print cards, 
labels, envelopes, etc.; (2) a 5x8 press costs $18.00 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 161 

and this one will do nice jobs up to postal card size; 
and (3) a 6x10 press costs $25.00 and is large 
enough to print bill-heads, letter-heads and circulars, 
or you can print a little newspaper on it. 

The Outfit You Need. — Your outfit will, of 
course, depend largely on the size of press you have. 

Outfit for a J ,r 5 Press. — A couple of dollars will 
buy all the Hxtiires you need and these consist of (a) 
a font of type, (b) some leads, (c) a type case, (d) 
an assortment of furniture, and (e) a can of black 
ink. 

A font of type means enough of a kind having the 
same face and body and the right amount of each 
letter to set up an ordinary job. You will find more 
about type under the next heading called Type and 
Typesetting. Leads are thin strips of type metal less 
than type-high which are used to separate the lines of 
type; and a type case is a shallow wooden tray di- 
vided into little compartments called boxes in which 
the letters of a font of type are kept apart. 

Outfit for a ^ X 8 Press. — The fixtures of a press of 
this size include all of those named above and (a) 
three fonts of type, (b) type cases for them; (c) 
a set of gage pins, and (d) a pair of tzveefjcrs, or a 
bodkin. The gage-pins are pinned into the paper back- 
ing on the platen to keep the card or sheet from slip- 
ping and to hold it in its proper place. The tweezers, 
or bobkin, which is a large needle, is used for picking 
out type from a form when you are correcting it. 

Outfit for an 8 x 10 Press. — This outfit should have 



l62 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



all the fixtures of both of those described above and 
you will need not less than four fonts of type, while a 
composing stick, which is a little metal tray to hold the 
t}^e in as you set it, is a necessity. These fixtures are 
shown in Fig. 64. 



P/fPBRGU/fGE 




D-/? BOUGHT f^ fi' WOOD FURNITURE B- /? L£/?P 
GU/PGEPm ^ 



/PBODK/N 



P/NBENT 'vy^^^^^-^ '^///^ 

FOR/f 

GU/iGEPIN 



CO/?RS£ SERR/JTED 6 - —-' I In 

FL/JTPO/NT3 U ^ I^Z ZZJ 

/f COMPOSING Sr/QK 

Fig. 64. AN OUTFIT FOR A MODEL PRESS 



About Type and Setting Type. — Relative Num- 
ber of Type Letters. — In looking over type catalogues 
you will see that the fonts are listed as 4A, or 8A-10A, 
etc. Now this means that in the 4A font there are 
4 capital A letters and that all of the other letters are 
in proportion to the A's that are likely to be used, 
thus : 



No. of letters ^ 
to font 



A 4 A FONT 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

335223422334432444222 222 



With an 8A-ioa font there are of course twice as 
many of each capital letter as in a 4A font while of 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 163 

the lower case letters, which means the small ones, 
there are 10 a's and the number of the others are in 
proportion to their use, thus : 

AN 8 A— 10a FONT 

abcde fg-hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

No. of letters lo 4 6 8 18 4 4 8 102 3 8 6 10 10 6 3 101010 6 4 4 2 4 2 
to font 

Styles of Type. — For card work you want a plain 
block letter font like that shown at A, a script like B, 
or an old English like that shown at C. 

For envelopes, bill, letter head and other job work 
three fonts of engraved plate style as shown at D, E 
and F will give good results. 

23A $1.00 

A THEODORE ROOSEVELT 1234567890 

8A 24a S4.50 

B ^ji s//ice i^^/ei ^23456789 

llA 34a $2.50 

22A Sl.OO 

D KNaRA-VED CAJtD STYLK IS PREFEItREr) 62468 

16A $1.05 

B H-AJODSOnVIEI EJlSTGrR-A^A^ED EIT-FECTS 123 

A16 S1.25 

F ENGRAVED PLATE STYLE 140 

For circulars 3^ou should have several fonts of dif- 
ferent styles of type as shown at G, H, I, J and K. 



i64 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

ISA 36a $2.90 

o CLEAR CUT Paces Popular 123 



H 



ISA $1.95 

EXCELSIOR PRESSES 12345 



,A $2,10 



GRAiisro 



lOA 15a $5.35 



' GOOD for many places 3 

lla 20a «3.00 

Good and Clear for poster and 

K circular printing. A fine addition 

to any printing office. 1234567S 

And finally should you intend to print a cook-book, 
a town directory or a newspaper you will need a half, 
or a full font of 12 point plain pica Roman, as it is 
called, and which is shown at L. 

12 Point No. 1,25 lbs J12.00. (Half font, 12 >^ lbs., $6.50) 

PLAIN Pica Roman, a face for many 
uses. Books, circulars and jobbing. 
Very clear and easy to read. Cast 
from nickel metal and most durable 
known. / $ L z 1234567890 

The Parts of a Type. — Before explaining how to 
set type, make ready and print, there are a few little 
things about letters and about type which are good to 
know. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 165 

First let's take, by way of illustration, the letter 
H H. Now you will observe that the first H is plain 
and the second one is embellished by fine lines at the 
top and bottom and these embellishments are called 
ser^-ifs. 

As simple a bit of metal as a type has more parts 
to it than you can shake a stick at, but you ought to 
learn them by heart. Named, these parts are (a) the 
body of the type; (b) the front; (c) the hack; (d) 

THE F /fee 

JHE BEVEL OR a£/?RO 
THE SHOULDER 
THE PIN M/fRK 
THEB/^C/r-^ \,— THE BELLY ORFRONT 

THeBOPY- 

ORsnmK 

THEFEET^^^^^ THEN/CKS 

\the groove 

Fig. 65. THE PARTS OF A TYPE 

the face or letter; (e) the nicks; (f) the feet; (g) the 
groove; (h) the shoulder; (i) the bevel, and (k) the 
pin marks, and all of these are pointed out in Fig. 65. 
It very often happens in italics and script type that 
a part of a letter will stand out beyond the body and 
this little extension is called the kern. The nick in 
the type is to help the type-setter, or compositor as he 
is called, to sjet the type the right way in the stick, that 
is you always set the type with the nicks down and 
toward you. 




i66 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

The pin-mark is made by a sharp instrument which 
removes it from the mold. Finally a c e m n o r 
s u V w X z are called short letters; j is a long 
letter in that it takes up the full breadth of the face; 
b d f h i 1 t are upstroke, or ascending letters, while 
g p q are downstroke or descending letters. 

The Sizes of Type. — Type is made in standard 
sizes and not so very long ago each size was known 
by a name. Then a change v^as made and the point 
system,^^ as it is called, came into general use. The 
sizes under the old and the new systems are given 
in the following table and it will enable you to know 
type sizes both by name and by point. 

TABLE OF TYPE SIZES 

OLD NAMES OF 8IZE3 NEW POINT SIZES 

Pearl 5 point 

Agate 5H " 

Nonpareil 6 " 

Minion 7 " 

Brevier 8 " 

Bourgeois 9 '* 

Long Primer 10 " 

Small Pica 11 " 

Pica 12 '' 

English U '' 

Great Primer 18'' 

63 This is the standard system of sizes for type bodies. It is so 
called because it is measured in decimal points or fractions of an 
inch ; that is, i point is .0138 inch, so that nonpareil, as it used to 
be called, is now 6 point and burgeois is 9 point, etc. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 167 



Your Type Cases. — There are two kinds of type 
cases and these are made to hold ( i ) the capital, or 
upper case letters, and (2) the small or lozver case 
letters. 

The reason the capitals are called upper case letters 
is because the case that holds them is set higher on 
the composing stand than the case which holds the 
small letters; this brings the small letters nearer to 



(/PP£/^ C/7S£ 




LOWER C/f3£ 



YPE QAB/NET 



Fig. 66a. how the type cases are arranged 

the hand of the compositor and as they are used more 
than the caps he can set the type faster. The arrange- 
ment of the cases is shown at A in Fig. 66. 

There are several schemes of type-cases but I shall 
only describe three of them. The first is a small type 
case 12^ inches square with 48 boxes in it and you 
can buy one "for 35 cents. It is good enough for any 
one who doesn't want to go to the bother of learn- 
ing the regular case. A plan view of the lay of a 



i68 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



regular upper and a lower case is shown at B and C. 
You will see that the e box in the lower case is larger 
than any other and this is because there are more e's 




Fig. 66b, the upper case 

used in setting up a job than any other one letter. 
And you will also observe that the letters are dis- 




FlG. 66c. THE LOWER CASE 

tributed and the boxes spaced in a very uneven way, 
but this arrangement brings the letters that are used 
the most into the easiest places to reach. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 169 

Setting the Type. — Where you have more than one 
line to set you should by all means use a composing 
stick and a small one will cost you a dollar. It should 
be held in the left hand as shown in Fig. 67, that is, 
with the open side from you and the slide to the left. 

Now read a few lines of your copy, pick the first let- 
ter from its box and set it in the left hand corner of 
the stick with the nick in the type toward your thumb. 
Take the next letter from its box and let it slide into 




Fig. 67. HOW to hold a composing stick 

the composing stick against the first letter and so on 
from left to right until you have the first word set up. 
Now put in a medium sized space, which is made; 
just like a type but only shoulder high and without any 
letter on it, and begin to set the next word. If when 
you get to the end of the line ithere is a space left 
but not enough to start another word, put a thin space 
between the words to lengthen out the line, or justify 
it as it is called. 



lyo 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



When you have set the line put a lead, that is a 
thin strip of typemetal which comes to the shoulder 
of the type, against it and start a new line and so on 
until you have the stick half full of type. 

The type must now be taken out of the stick and 
placed on a smooth surface, such as a piece of slate or 




Fig. 68. putting a stick of type in the chase 



a stone called an imposing stone, and to do this without 
dropping some or all of the type and making pi of it, 
takes practice. To do it like a journeyman, put a lead 
at the top and bottom of the type, set the stick on the 
stone, grip the top and bottom with your fore fingers 
and thumbs and the sides with your other fingers, hold 
it tight and you can then easily lift it out and into the 
chase as shown in Fig. 68. 

A good way for you to do it at first is to wet the 
type after you have it set in the composing stick when 
it will hold together without much trouble. When 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 171 

you can manage half-a-stick full of type you can then 
try a stick full. 

Making Ready. — After you have the type, which 
is to make up the form, set in the chase on the impos- 
ing stone, or table, fill in the top and bottom spaces 
with long pieces of wood furniture and the ends with 
hollow metal furniture and then lock up the form, 
that is screw or otherwise fix it in the chase. 

Now there are two kinds of chases used with small 
presses and these are (i) screw chases and (2) plain 
chases. A screw chase has a couple of screws fitted 
into the top of it so that after the type and furniture 
are in the chase you only need to tighten up the screws 
to hold the form in place. 




SHOOTING 
STICK 



QUOINS/?R£ 

SIMPLY wapcas 

Fig. 69. TOOLS for locking up a chase 

When a plain chase is used, quoins, that is wedges 
made of wood, as shown in Fig. 69 — you can get a 
dozen hickory ones for a nickel — must be set in be- 
tween the furniture and the chase and these are forced 
together with a mallet and a shooting sticky so that 
the type is held firmly in place. 



172 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

The next thing to do is to plane the form, that is, 
you take a block of wood one side of which is cov- 
ered with a piece of felt. Lay this on the type and 
tap it gently with the mallet to get all of the type 
even on top. You can make a planer or buy one for a 
quarter ready made. 

This done, fit the chase in the press and put three 
or four sheets of paper on the platen by means of the 
pivoted bands on the edge of the latter. Ink the type 
and run off a few impressions; but be careful that the 
grippers are set so that they will just catch the edges 
of the sheet but will not strike the type form. 

If part of the impression does not come out plain, 
paste a piece of paper on the paper backing on the 
platen and, oppositely, if a part of the impression is 
too heavy a bit of the under sheet of paper backing 
must be cut away. 

When the impression is even on the platen sheet 
paste a piece of cardboard below and another to the 
left hand side of it so that the card or the sheet of 
paper will lay on the platen in exactly the right place 
every time you feed it in. 

Instead of cardboard you can use three bent pins to 
gage the sheet, or, still better, use regular steel gage 
pins (see Fig. 64), for these can be adjusted to a 
nicety. 

Printing the Job. — All that remains for you to do 
now is to put about as much ink as you can get on the 
point of the blade of a penknife on the ink table and 
then roll it out thin and even with a small hand roller. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 173 

Lay your stock on the table to the right of the 
press and feed in a card or a sheet at a time with your 
right hand and see to it that you get it in squarely 
against the gage pins; take away your hand and 
press the handle down with your left hand; raise it 
up, take the printed sheet out with your left hand, feed 
in another one and so on until the job is done. 

How to Clean Type. — As soon as you have 
printed a job take the chase from the press and before 
you unlock the form rub the face of the type with a 
rag dipped in benzine, or turpentine and when all the 
ink and smut is gone wipe it with a clean rag. 

If the type gets clogged up with ink wash it out 
with a tooth-brush dipped in benzine and when the 
ink on the table and the rollers gets dirty or does not 
work well wash it off with benzine also. To do good 
printing everything must be immaculately clean. 

About Distributing Type. — After you have 
cleaned the type, unlock the form and then take a line 
o' type at a time on a lead in your left hand; pick off 
two or three letters at once and drop each one into its 
respective box. 

The Ink and Rollers. — The Ink. — While 01 
course you will buy your ink all ready to use you 
may like to know how it is made. Here's a recipe 
for a printing ink that is as old as the hills and as 
good as gold: Balsam of capivi 4% ounces; lamp- 
black iVo ounces; indigo % ounce; India red % ounce, 
and turpentine dry soap 1% ounces; mix these in- 
gredients well in a mortar with a pestle; then mix the 



174 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

mass with boiled linseed oil to the right thickness. 

When buying ink for job printing get one that is 
a quick drier and this costs from 50 cents to $1.50 a 
pound according to quahty. You can also buy colored 
inks in red, white, blue, yellow, green, brown and 
purple in 4 ounce cans for 60 cents a can. 

The Rollers. — While it is cheaper and better to buy 
ink rollers ready made, if you want to try your hand 
at making them yourself get i pound Peter Cooper's 
best glue; i quart best sugar house syrup, and i pint 
of glycerine. 

Soak the glue in rain water until it is soft, drain off 
all the excess water, put it in a glue pot and set it on 
a slow fire until it is melted. Now put in the syrup, 
boil it for half an hour, stirring it the while, and skim 
off the scum that comes to the top. 

About 5 minutes before you take it from the fire add 
the other things and then pour the mixture into the 
mold, which is simply a brass cylinder of the diameter 
and length you want the roller. The stock, as the 
spindle of the roller is called, is set exactly in the 
middle of the mold and the composition is poured 
into it. 

Printing in Colors. — Printing in two or more 
colors, or color printing, is not only interesting work 
to do, but profitable, since you can easily get orders 
for it. It is a little harder to do a good job with 
colored inks than it is with black ink, but if you will 
use plain type and good colored ink you will have 
small trouble in doing a creditable job. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 175 

Printing in Gold. — When you want to print in 
gilt instead of in black you can do it either by printing 
in black ink first and then dusting bronze powder over 
it with a tuft of cotton, or print the job with gold size 
which makes the powder stick better. Dust the ex- 
cess powder off with a bit of cotton when the letters 
will stand out in gold beautifully. 

You can buy a 3 ounce can of gold size for a quarter 
and bronze powder can be had in i ounce cans in gold, 
silver, cardinal red and copper. All of the above 
materials can be bought of the Kelsey Press Company, 
Meriden, Conn., and you ought to send for one of 
their catalogues. 

And Finally Your Stock Supply. — You will need 
a supply of both visiting and business cards; paper for 
labels, handbills and newspapers — that is, if you in- 
tend to print one — and paper for bill-heads, state- 
ments, letter-heads and envelopes to match them. 

Cards come in all sizes and colors and in any 
quantity however small; they are sold under the 
name of thin white, thin colored, heavy china, 
business Bristol, fine Bristol, extra Une Bristol, satin 
enameled and linen finished Bristol. Then there are 
cards with gold beveled and lace edges; fancy em- 
bossed, with round edges, and for mourning. 

Paper can be bought that is gummed on one side 
for labels; linen and bond papers are used for cor- 
respondence; the cheapest kind of white and colored 
paper is good enough for handbills but you should use 
a good white stock for newspaper work. Before or- 



176 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

dering stock of any kind the best way to do is to send 
for a full set of samples and then you will know just 
what you are buying. 

The Art of Paper Making 

Of course you know what paper looks like and how 
it feels, but it is not so likely that you know what it is 
and how it is made; but paper making is an art so 
old, so wonderful and so useful, that you ought to 
make enough to know all about it. 

What Paper Is. — Paper is made by chemical and 
mechanical processes from rags, straw or wood into 
thin sheets. These materials are formed of fibers 
made up of what chemists call cellulose ^* and this 
substance is in turn composed of CqH^qO^, that is 6 
atoms of carbon, 10 atoms of hydrogen and 5 atoms 
of oxygen. 

How to Make Paper. — Whatever material you 
use to make the paper of it must be converted into 
a pulp first. Cotton or linen makes the best paper — 
this is called rag paper — because these materials are 
nearly pure cellulose to begin with. 

Making the Pulp. — To make a little paper take 
about a pound of white cotton or linen rags and cut 
them up into little bits; boil them in a solution of 
caustic soda for a couple of hours, to get out all the 
dirt and grease, and stir them often. 

^* Cellulose forms the ground-work of all vegetable tissues 
whether they are the tender shoots of a fern or the hard wood of 
trees. • 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 177 

Next wash out the dirty water that has resulted 
from boihng them and then the cotton or linen must 
be broken up and beaten until the fibers are separated. 
You can do this by putting the fabrics into a chopping 
bowl, wetting it down with clean water and then using 
a pair of chopping knives on them until the fibers are 
cut fine, and you must change the water often. In 
paper mills a rag engine, as it is called, is used to wash 
and break up the rags. 




Fig. 70. A FRAME FOR PAPER MAKING 

The Molds You Need. — Make half-a-dozen frames 
of wood V^ inch thick and % an inch wide, and about 
5x8 inches on the sides ; and cover these with brass 
wire netting having about 20 wires to the inch as 
shown in Fig. 70. School slate frames are good for 
this purpose. . 

Laying the Paper. — Now spread a thin layer of 
pulp on the wire netting of each frame, or mold, and 



178 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

set them to one side to dry. When you have all the 
molds filled and the pulp is dry turn each frame up- 
side down on a sheet of blotting paper and lay another 
sheet of blotting paper over the paper you are making. 

In this way pile up the blotting paper and the paper 
in the making and then put them under pressure; this 
you can do by placing the pile between two smooth 
I inch thick boards and screwing them together with 
a couple of wood clamps.^^ After an hour or so you 
can take the clamps from the pile and separate the 
sheets of paper from the blotting paper. 

Next place the paper between sheets of oil 
hoard,^^ make a pile of them and screw them up be- 
tween the wood clamps again good and tight and leave 
them there over night; then hang up each sheet of 
paper by a corner with a clip and let it dry. 

Sizing and Finishing. — When the sheets are dry 
take them down and lay them carefully in a pile for 
sizing. Make the sizing by dissolving gelatine in hot 
water until it is about as thick as milk with the cream 
in it. 

Pour the sizing into a shallow dish or, better, a 
photographic tray; lay each sheet, first one side and 
then the other, on the sizing and be careful to wet it 
evenly all over. Put the sized paper between the 
sheets of oil board again, make a pile of them, screw 
on the wood clamps, let them stay under pressure 

65 A description of these clamps will be found in Chapter I. 

66 This is a heavy oiled paper and you can buy it at a painter's 
supply store, or of C. B. Hewitt and Bros., 48 Beekman St., 
New York City. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 179 

for half a day and, finally when you take them out 
let them dry slowly and you will have a hand made 
paper that you have made with your own hands. 

How to Bind Books 

If you will look at this book carefully you will con- 
clude that it would be next to impossible to bind one 
that would even faintly resemble it. But while I do 
not want you to believe that you can do a job that 
would anywhere nearly equal it, you can bind a book 
good enough so that you will not feel ashamed to let 
any one see it. 



/7 



1 


J 
i 

'^J 
^ 


i 



W/PTH 

TH£30RRDS 




BO/?RPS GLUED 
TO CLOTH 



WIDTH OF BOOK 



Fig. 71. HOW to cut boards and cloth for book binding 

Making the Cover. — First mark out with a rule 
and then cut out two pieces of pasteboard each of 
which is just as wide as the book you are going to bind 
and % inch longer as shown at A in Fig. 71. 

Lay these boards on a piece of muslin or calico, or 
you can buy regular book-binder's cloth for the pur- 
pose ^'^ and cut it 2 inches wider than the length of 

^'^ For book binders' materials of all kinds send to Thomas 
Garner and Co., i8i William Street, New York. For book bind- 



i8o 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



the boards and three times as long as the width of one 
of them as shown at B. 

Coat these boards on one side with a good ghie laid 
on thin and glue them to the cloth so that they will be 
separated from each other by a space /4 an inch wider 
than the thickness of the book you are binding as 
shown at B and C; this done glue the edges of the 
cloth over on to the other sides of the boards as 
shown at D in Fig. y2. 



CLOTH FOLDED 
OVER 





/ 

\ 




\ 
/ 






D 



Fig. 72. SEWING on the muslin flap 



While the back is drying take a piece of good muslin 
and cut it i>4 inches shorter than the length of the book 
and within 2 inches as wide as the width of the back 
of the book when it is flat open. For instance suppose 
the book is 5 inches wide and i inch thick which is 
II inches in all; then you would cut the muslin 9 
inches long. The muslin on the book is shown at E. 

Sewing the Book. — The next operation is to sew 

ers' leather materials address Du Pont Febrikoid Co., Equitable 
Bldg., New York. 



PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS 181 

this piece to the back of the book; for this work you 
will need a thin sharp awl, a hammer, a large darning 
needle and some strong linen thread — waxed thread 
is the best. 

Before doing so, however, take a sheet of good 
white paper and make a couple of fly-leaves for the 
front and back of the book; now punch a line of 
holes Ys inch from the back, through the book as shown 




•^hWil 



n 




Fig. yz- the bound book complete 

at F, then put on the piece of muslin and sew it to 
the book good and tight, and be sure the flaps are 
even. 

This done spread some glue on the pasteboard cov- 
ers, place the back of the book on the cloth binding 
between the covers, turn it over on the front cover 
and rub the muslin down smooth on it; then do the 
same thing with the back. All that remains for you 
to do now is to turn back one of the blank pages which 



i82 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

you sewed on to the book and glue it on the cover 
which will conceal the muslin flap. 

After you have bound the book lay it between a 
couple of smooth boards and screw it up tight between 
the jaws of a pair of wood clamps. Let it stay there 
over night and in the morning when you take the 
wood clamps off you will have one more book to add 
to your five foot shelf. 

Putting on the Title. — If you have a printing press 
you can print the title of the book and the author's 
name — don't forget the author's name — on a slip 
of heavy paper and gild it, or on a piece of cloth and 
glue it to the front of the cover as shown in Fig. 73. 



CHAPTER VIII 

RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING, BURN- 
ING BRANDS AND STENCILS 

Rubber Stamps 

A rubber stamp is type matter molded in rubber 
which is then mounted on a block with a handle as 
shown in Fig. yy. When the stamp is inked and 
then pressed on a smooth surface it leaves an impres- 
sion on it. 

Rubber stamps are useful for marking tags, books, 
boxes, bundles, etc., but it is very bad taste to use them 
for letter-heads and envelopes. 

How to Make Rubber Stamps. — The Materials 
Needed. — To make rubber stamps you will need (i) 
one or more fonts of type; (2) a composing stick if 
you intend setting up more than one line ; ( 3 ) a frame 
called a chase, 4x5 inches on the sides made of a 
strip of wood i inch wide and ^%6 inch high, which is 
the height of type from its feet to its shoulder; (4) 
another frame, called the matrix frame, made of a 
strip of wood i inch wide, % inch thick and 4x5 
inches on the -sides. These two frames are shown at 
A and B in Fig. 74. (5) Two smooth boards i inch 
thick, 6 inches wide and 7 inches long; (6) a tooth- 

183 



i84 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



brush; (7) a couple of pounds of dental plaster of 
Paris J and (8) a "14 pound of pure unvulcanised rubber. 
Dental plaster is finer than the ordinary kind and 
you can buy all you will need from your family dentist 
for 5 or 10 cents a pound. Unvulcanized rubber for 
rubber stamps comes in sheets about %6 inch thick and 
is sold under the name of signature stamp gum and 
you can buy it for about $1.00 a pound.^^ 



Br TH6M/)TRlXFRfiME 



Pt-THE 
CHRSE 




Fig. 74. THE MATRIX FRAME, CHASE AND BOARDS FOR MAKING 

RUBBER STAMPS 

Unvulcanized rubber is crude india-rubber mixed 
with sulphur and when this is heated it gets very soft 
and can be molded by putting it under pressure; when 
it gets cold it is not only much stronger than before 
but it is very elastic as well. 

68 You can buy signature stamp gum of The Goodyear Tire- 
and Rubber Company, 10 Central Park West, New York City. 
In ordering of this firm ask for No. 4093, %6 inch thick. 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 185 

Making the Mold. — Since you know how to make 
pewter castings and how to set type, making a rubber 
stamp will be as easy as rolling off a log. 

When you have the type set up that you want to 
make the rubber stamp of, put a lead ^^ on each side 
of it, oil it all over w^h sweet oil and tie a string 
around it tight. Lay the thick, shoulder high wood 
frame over the type matter you have set and see that 
it is in the middle of it. 

Next mix up a little more than enough plaster with 
cold water in a bowl to fill the frame; stir it with a 
tablespoon and make it about as thick as sorghum 
molasses. Pour the plaster all around the type in 
the frame and fill up the space between them as high 
as the face of the ^ype. Now let the plaster set^'^^ 
that is, get hard, which it will do in a very few min- 
utes. When it is hard enough to hold the type in 
place and yet before it gets solid take the tooth-brush, 
dip it in water and brush away the plaster until it is 
exactly even with the frame, and hence, even with the 
shoulders of the type as shown in Fig. 75. 

When the plaster has set hard oil the face of the 
type and the plaster with sweet oil; now lay the thin 
frame over the thick frame ; mix up some more plaster 
with water and make it thin enough so that it will 

69 See the preceding chapter on printing. 

■^0 When calcium sulphate is heated it loses its water of crys- 
talHzation and forms a powder, which we call plaster of Paris ; 
the plaster has the power of taking up water aad forming a 
solid substance, and this process is called setting. 



i86 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



flow easily into every little space of the type and fill 
the frame up with it. 

Let this frame stay on the lower frame over night 
so that it will get very hard and you can then lift it 
off, when a very sharp impression of the type faces 
will be formed in it shoulder deep, that is as deep in 
the plaster as the face of the type is high. This frame 
with its plaster impression is called the matrix. 



TYPE 



MmRIX OF TYPE 
P/?C£S IN Pl/fSTER 




Fig. 75D. the type in the chase, e. plaster of paris 

IMPRESSION IN THE MATRIX FRAME 

Vulcanizing the Rubber. — Cut a piece of the un- 
vulcanized gum rubber ^ inch wider and longer all 
round than the impression of the type; peel the strip of 
muslin from the strip of rubber gum and lay it on the 
matrix. Put one of the boards on top of the rubber 
and the other on the bottom of the matrix and screw 
them together tight with the iron clamps as shown 
in Fig. y6. 

Half fill a kettle with water; lay the mold on top 
of the kettle — but not in the water — and put both of 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 187 

them in a hot oven for 30 minutes. When the rubber 
gum gets hot it softens and the pressure of the screws 
forces it into the letters of the matrix and so makes 
rubber type of them. The steam from the kettle will 
keep the wood from charring and the rubber from 
burning but has no other action on it. 

UNVULCfiNIZED 
RUBBER OUM 




MATRIX SHEETQFTIN 

FRAME 

Fig. 76. THE MATRIX WITH THE RUBBER GUM IN PLACE READY TO 

VULCANIZE 

The heat vulcanises '^^ the rubber gum and makes it 
springy and stretchy, but if it gets too hot it will be- 
come hard and you will have hard rubber instead. To 
get just the right degree of heat a vMlcanizer,'^^ which 
is simply a little boiler with a thermometer on top, is 
used by rubber stamp makers. 

■^1 Vulcanizing is the process of heating raw India rubber with 
sulphur ; the sulphur combines with the rubber to form a new 
compound. If a large amount of sulphur is used and great heat 
is used hard rubber, or vulcanite, or ebonite is formed. If a 
small amount "of sulphur and a low heat are used the elastic 
rubber that is so common is formed. 

7- The S. S. White Dental Mfg. Co., 5 Union Square, New 
York, sells them, and unvulcanized rubber as well. 



i88 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Mounting the Rubber. — All that you need to do 
now is to trim off the edges of the rubber stamp with 
a pair of shears and mount it on a smooth block of 
wood having a handle as shown in Fig. "j"]. 




Fig. 'j'j. the rubber stamp ready to use 

How to Use a Rubber Stamp. — A special kind of 
ink is used for rubber stamps, as writing ink is too 
thin and printing ink spoils the rubber. 

To Make an Ink Pad. — Cut out two blocks of pine 
wood each of which is ^ inch thick, 2 inches wide 
and 3 inches long; cut out four strips of woolen cloth 
2x3 inches, lay two of the strips on each block and 
then cover the latter by gluing a piece of muslin 
over it. 

Pour a dozen or 15 drops of rubber stamp ink on 
each pad and rub the surfaces of both of them to- 
gether to distribute the ink evenly. When not in use 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 189 

keep their inked surfaces together and in a box so 
that the dust will not get on them J ^ 

To Make Rubber Stamp Inks. — A Black Ink. — 
Mix 3 parts of lampblack with 7 parts of olive oil. 

A Red Ink, — Mix 2 parts of vermilion with 3 parts 
of olive oil. 

A Blue Ink. — Mix 3 parts of aniline blue and 6 
parts of oleic acid with 94 parts of castor oil. 

A Green Ink. — Mix 25 parts of aniline blue, 15 
parts aniline lemon yellow, 50 parts oleic acid and 
castor oil 950 parts. 

How to Make a Copygraph Pad. — A copygraph 
pad, or hectograph, as it is often called — from the 
Greek hekaton which means 100, and graph to write, 
hence to write a hundred — is a gelatine pad for 
duplicating a letter or a drawing. 

To use a copygraph pad you must write your origi- 
nal letter with an aniline ink; then you lay it on the 
pad and rub it down with your fingers. When you 
remove the sheet an impression will be left on the face 
of the pad and if now you lay a sheet of clean paper 
on the pad, rub it and ptdl it off you will have a copy 
almost as bright and clear as the original. In this 
way as many as 50 or 100 copies of the original letter 
can be made. 

To make a copygraph pad put i ounce of the best 
gelatine in enough water to cover it and let it stand for 

'■^ You can'buy a good rubber stamp pad for a quarter. Rubber 
stamps, pads, and ink can be bought of the Everson and Reed 
Co., 88 Chambers St., N. Y. C. 



190 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

24 hours. Put a tablespoon ful of table salt into a cup 
of water, pour it into the outside can of a wuter 
jacketed pot. Put 6 ounces of glycerine in the inside 
pot, set the pot on the stove and heat it good and hot, 
or to be exact, to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Drain off all the water from the gelatine and put 
the latter in the glycerine while it is yet on the fire; 
stir the mixture slowly every once in a while in order 
to prevent bubbles from forming, and skim off the 
froth that forms on top of it. When you have a nice 
smooth mixture stir in a teaspoonful of oil of cloves 
to keep it sweet. 

Next make a pan of sheet zinc a little larger than 
the letter you want to copy and % an inch high, or 
you can use a tin pie pan if you merely want to try 
it out. Set the pan on a level table, fill it with the 
hot mixture, let it stand over night and it is ready 
to use. 

How to Copy a Letter. — You must write your 
letter with a special aniline ink, called hectograph ink, 
and use a new steel pen to do it with. 

While the writing is getting dry take a small clean 
sponge, wet it with cold water, squeeze it as dry as 
you can, wash the face of the gelatine with it before 
you try to make an impression or else you will spoil 
the pad. 

This done, lay the sheet of paper with the written 
side down on the pad and gently rub your fingers over 
every part of it. Let the paper stay on the pad for a 
couple of minutes, then grip a corner of it and pull 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 191 

it slowly and evenly from the pad as shown in Fig. 
78. Now you are ready to make your copies. 

To do this lay a clean sheet of paper on the pad, 
rub it as you did the original, let it remain for a min- 
ute and pull it off. Keep on making copies until you 
have as many as you want or the impression gets too 
faint. 



THE. GELPTlNEPm 




THE SHEET OF 
P/?P£R 




^THB T/N O/^ Z/NCP/P/V 
Fig. 78. PULLING AN IMPRESSION FROM THE COPYGRAPH 



When you get through pulling copies wash the face 
of the pad with a moist sponge and let it dry thor- 
oughly before you make a new copy. 

How to Make Hectograph Inks. — Black Ink. — 
Mix 10 parts of methyl violet; 20 parts of nigrosene; 
30 parts of glycerine; 5 parts of gum arabic and 60 
parts of alcohol. Heat it until the anilines are dis- 
solved and stir until all are thoroughly mixed. 

Red Ink. — Mix 10 parts of fuchsin, 10 parts of 
alcohol; 10 parts of glycerine and 50 parts of water. 
Heat and stir as before. 



192 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Die Sinking 

How to Make Badges, etc. — It is fascinating work 
to sink a name into a piece of sheet metal with steel 
dies and yet it is very easy if you have the tools and 
you can make some money out of it too, for every 
boy wants a badge or a medal. 




SHEET OF GERM/^N 
SiLVER OR 5R/^SS 
WTHSHIELD 
M/IRKEDONIT 



THE SHIELD 
CUT OUT 



Fig. 79A, B. FIRST STEPS IN MAKING A BADGE 

Badges can be made of any kind of sheet metal %4 
inch thick or more but German silver '^^ makes mighty 
pretty ones for it takes a high polish and remains 
bright a long time. To cut out a shield, a star or any 
kind of a badge get a H and a % inch straight cold 
chisel and a /4 and a % inch curved cold chiselj^ also 
a block of hard wood one side of which must be nice 
and smooth. "^^ 

74 You can buy German silver in any quantity and thickness of 
Patterson Bros., Park Row, N. Y. 

75 The P. F. Smith Co., 325 West 42nd St., N. Y. C, make 
these chisels. 

7** You can make it so by scraping it with a piece of glass. 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 193 

Draw the outline of the badge you intend to make 
on a sheet of meal; lay the latter on the block of wood 
and then cut it out with your chisels and hammer as 
shown at A and B in Fig. 79. When you have it cut 
out, file off the rough edges. 

How to Sink the Letters. — For this part of the 
work you will need a set of Vs inch steel letters '^'^ as 




Fig. 79c. THE BADGE ON A FLAT-IRON IN A VISE. D. SINKING IN 

THE LETTERS 



shown in Fig. 80 and they will cost in the neighbor- 
hood of $3.00. 

Mark the lines on the badge on which the letters are 
to be sunk with a very soft lead pencil, or, better, wax 
the surface all over by tapping it with your finger on 
which you have rubbed some white wax and then 
mark the lines with a sharp pointed piece of bone. 

'''^ Can be had of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth 
Ave. and 13th Street, New York. 



194 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Otherwise you will have trouble in getting the lines 
out. 

Now lay the badge on a perfectly smooth piece of 
iron — a flat-iron screwed in a vise, see C, is good. 
Then take the middle letter of the name you are going 
to stamp and hold it with the notched side toward you 
and with the serifs "^^ on the lower edge of the letter 




Fig. 8o. steel letters and figures for die sinking 



exactly on the middle of the line you have drawn as 
shown at D. 

Hold the steel letter perfectly straight and give it 
a goodly blow with the hammer when the die will 
sink into the metal and leave the impression of the 
letter below the surface. Finish stamping the name 
by working both ways from the middle letter, for this 
is the way to get the name on the badge evenly. 

With a set of steel letters and figures you can also 
stamp key checks, jewelers' checks, baggage checks and 

78 See Chapter VII, on Printing. • 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 195 

name plates and also sink names on wood, metal, 
leather, etc. 

Finishing Up the Badge. — The next thing to do 
is to solder a pin on the back of the badge as shown 
at E in Fig. 79. Scrape the back up and down the 
middle bright and clean; put a small safety pin on 
the badge and hold them together with a pair of 
tweezers. Then put on a couple of drops of solder- 
ing Huid."^^ 





THEBfICK READY 
WTH PIN TO 

SOLDERBPON WE/1R 

Fig. 79E, F. LAST STEPS IN MAKING A BADGE 

Hold the badge with the pin on top of it in the 
flame of your alcohol lamp or Bunsen burner and when 
the soldering fluid begins to sizzle touch the pin with 
a piece of wire solder. When the solder runs let it 
cool and the pin will be on securely enough for all 
ordinary purposes. 

Next polish up the badge by rubbing it with 
powdered rottenstone mixed with a little machine oil 



■^^ See page 31. 



196 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

and then finish it off with some crocus. If you have a 
lathe of any kind get a felt wheel ^^ and use the rotten- 
stone and oil on it and then the crocus. 

Heat the stamped surface of the pin just a little and 
put some hlack enamel, which you can get at the hard- 
ware store, into the letters; rub off all that sticks to 
the surface but leave all that is in the sunk letters. 
Put it away and let the enamel dry thoroughly when 
you will have a regular badge as shown at F. 

Burning Brands 

A burning brand is useful to mark the handles of 
tools, boxes or anything made of wood by burning 
a name or a design into them. 

How to Make a Burning Brand. — To make a 
burning brand, say with your initials on it, make a 
cardboard box % inch wide, i inch high and 3 inches 
long and without a top. 

Mix up some plaster of Paris, fill the box with it 
and let it set. When it is perfectly hard and dry tear 
the cardboard box away from it, and on the narrow 
side of it, that is the one that is % inch wide, mark out 
your initials, reversing the letters just as they are on 
type. 

Take a sharp pocket knife and cut away the plaster 
from around the letters to a depth of % inch, thus 
leaving the letters standing out in relief like type let- 

so F. W. Gesswein Co., Inc., 16 John St., sells engravers*, opti- 
cians', platers' and polishers' supplies. 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 197 

ters as shown at A in Fig. 81. Give it a couple of 
coats of shellac varnish^^ which not only protects the 
plaster to a certain extent but prevents it from sticking 
to the mold. 




© 



.^^ 



:^ 



\J 



3" 



^ -^ PU?STER OF P/?RI5 
P/?Tr£RN FOR J^ 
BURNING BRmP 

THE. BUR.NING 
BJ?fiND COMPUTE 

Fig. 81. A BURNING BRAND OF IRON OR COrPER 

Now take this pattern to a brass foundry and have 
a brass casting made of it. When you get it file it 
up nice and smooth and be careful to keep the surface 
of the letters perfectly flat. This done, drill a %6 
inch hole in the center of the back of the brand to a 
depth of % an inch and thread it with a %6 inch tap. 

The next and last thing to do is to get an iron rod 
% inch in diameter, and 12 inches long, bend a ring 
on one end, thread the other end with a ?i6 inch die 
and screw it into the brand, when it will look like B. 

How to Use the Burning Brand. — To use the burn- 
ing brand put it in a fire and when it is about red hot, 
take it out and press it firmly on the wood you want 



81 You can make this varnish by dissolving yellow gum shellac 
In alcohol or you can buy it at a paint store. 



198 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

to mark and your initials will be left on the wood as 
long as the wood lasts, nearly. 

Stencils 

A stencil is a piece of heavy paper or thin sheet of 
metal in which letters or a design are cut through with 
broken lines, and it is used for marking the letters or 
design on any smooth surface by daubing a color on 
it through the open spaces with a brush or sponge. 

There are two kinds of stencils, namely (i) 
those used for practical work and (2) those used for 
decorative purposes. 

How to Cut Stencils. — You can cut your stencils 
in either (a) oil hoard,^^ or (b) in thin sheet brass or 
copper. Paper stencils, as those cut in oil board are 
called, are much easier to make than those cut in sheet 
metal and as they are quite durable they will probably 
serve your every need. 

Cutting Paper Stencils. — All you need to cut paper 
stencils with is a sheet of oil board and a pen-knife 
with a good, sharp-pointed blade. A stencil alphabet 
is shown at A in Fig. 82 and by taking a look at it 
you will see exactly where the lines must be broken 
to hold the letters together. 

First mark out with a pencil the size of the sheet 
you want the stencil to be and then draw a line down 
through the middle to divide it into equal parts. For 
every line of letters you want draw a pair of lines 

82 Oil board can be bought of C. B. Hewitt and Bros., 48 Beek- 
man St., New York. 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 199 

across the oil board and have the space between them 
whatever you want the height of the letters to be. 

When you mark in the name or word start with 
the middle letter and draw it on the middle line of the 
board and then draw in the rest of the letters to the 
right and to the left; by lettering the oil board or 
metal this way you will get the whole name or word 
exactly in the middle of the sheet. 



M>\lll(WITM.STH\'(:il.S 

.SMTIMK 
IK)U.>\IUS a7IKM)BI>: 



A WAm'll 
M JKLM «| 

OPnRiJTU 

VVVXYZAi 




Fig. S2. STENCIL letters and stencils 

A. How stencil leUers are cut. 

B. A stencil for marking boxes. 

C. Decorative stencil for wall borders. 

To cut the stencil lay it on a smooth board and hold 
your knife just as you do a pen when you write but 
with your fingers a little closer to the point. Start at 
the top of each line if it is a vertical one, or on the 
left hand side if it is horizontal; hold the knife at a 
slight angle so that all the lines you cut will slant in 
toward the center of the letter and so bevel the paper. 
In cutting the stencil you can turn the sheet around 
to bring the lines into the best position for cutting. 

It does not take much pressure to cut through the 
board but press down hard enough on the blade to 



200 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

make the first cut go clear through and never cut over 
the same line tv^ice and also make the cuts run right 
up sharp into the corners. It takes very small skill 
to cut stencils but the chief part of the art lies in draw- 
ing the letters or the designs on the paper or metal. 

Cutting Brass Stencils. — I'b cut sheet metal stencils 
use annealed ^^ sheet metal about No. 25 Brown and 
Sharpe gauge; ^* mark out the letters or design as for 
paper stencils and then cut them with stencil chisels. 
When you have the stencil all cut file the hurr off of 
the edges of the letters or design with a fine file and 
file them at an angle so that all the edges are sharp. 
A practical stencil is shown at B. 

How to Use Practical Stencils. — A short, stubby 
brush, called a stencil brush and made especially for 
the purpose is the best kind to use to stencil with. 
Dampen it a little and rub it on a cake of stencil ink; ^^ 
hold the stencil down tight to the surface you are to 
mark and then dab — not paint — the spaces in it 
with the brush. 

Hoiv to Make Stencil Inks. — Dissolve 4 ounces of 
shellac and i part of borax in ^ little boiling water and 
put in enough logwood to make it red if this is the 
color you want it, or blue carmine if you want it to be 

83 Patterson Bros., Park Row, New York, carry sheet brass and 
copper in stock for stencils. 

84 The Brown and Sharpe Wire Gage is also used for measur- 
ing the thickness of sheet metal. 

85 Nearly every stationery store carries stencil ink and brushes 
in stock, or you can get them of Hammacher, Schlemmer and 
Co., Cor. Fourth Ave. and 13th Street, N. Y. C. 



RUBBER STAMPS, DIE SINKING 201 

blue. Then add enough hot water to make it about 
as thick as cream. 

How to Use Decorative Stencils. — Art stencils 
can be used with good effect for certain kinds of deco- 
rative work, but it is especially adapted for putting 
borders on kalsomined walls. You can cut these 
stencils, see C in Fig. 82, after your own design or 
you can buy them already cut.^^ 

Mixing Colors for Stenciling Borders. — To make 
the colors for decorative stencils stir a very little 
moresco stenciling color ^'^ with some hot water; be 
careful not to use too much color or the effect on the 
kalsomined or frescoed wall will be too contrasting. 
Beautiful colors in half-a-dozen tints can be had for 
this work. 

s^ Write to the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston, Mass., 
for a catalogue of their Art Cut Stencils. Also to Sears, Roebuck 
and Co., Chicago, Ills., for a list of their decorative stencils. 

87 Made by Benjamin H. Moore and Son's Co., i8o William 
St., N. Y., and sold by paint dealers generally. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 

One of the most fascinating of the mechanical arts 
is working in glass. One reason for this is because it 
is a substance so beautiful, so hard and so fragile that 
it seems to the ordinary observer to be beyond the pale 
of tools. 

Au contraire, as the French say it, glass is easily 
worked if you mix a little skill with the right kind of 
tools and it gives me much pleasure to tell you how 
to do it. Further, the tools you need are few and the 
material is inexpensive. 

What Glass Is. — Before getting down to the pro- 
cesses by which glass can be worked it is a good scheme 
to know about the substance itself. 

Hieroglyphic ^^ inscriptions on the Egyptian monu- 
ments show that the art of working glass was prac- 
ticed 4,000 years ago or before the Hebrew exodus.^^ 
Now glass is a chemical compound, the chief substance 
of which is sand. 

Common glass is made by melting sand, lime and 
soda together. Sand is formed of a chemical element 

88 The early Egyptians carved the history of their arts on stone 
in a sign language called hieroglyphics from the Greek hieros 
which means sacred, and glypho which means to carve. 

89 The departure of the Israelites from Egypt under the guid- 
ance of Moses. 

202 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 203 

called silica; lime is calcmm carbonate and soda is 
sodmm carbonate and there you have three chemical 
elements which when they are melted together make 
common window glass. 

Glass which contains lime is called crown glass and 
it is this kind which is used in making one of a pair of 
achromatic ^^ lenses. Flint glass which is the kind of 
glass used in making the other one of a pair of achro- 
matic lenses contains lead instead of lime. 

Flint, or lead, glass melts more easily than crown, 
or common, glass and this is a good pointer for you to 
remember when you are getting glass for your glass 
blowing experiments. Bohemian glass, which is 
largely used for chemical apparatus, is made of sand, 
lime and potash. 

Colored glass is made by putting small quantities 
of various substances into the melted glass. Thus 
oxide of cobalt ^'^ gives a blue color; oxide of 
chromium, or cupric oxide a green; one of the copper 
oxides gives it a red color, uranium^^ a yellow, etc. 

How to Cut Glass. — About the simplest and most 
useful process for you to know is how to cut glass. 

To cut window glass you need (i) a glass cutter; 
(2) a drawing board and (3) a T square. There 
are two kinds of glass cutters on the market and these 
are (a) steel cutters and (b) diamond cutters. 

The first kind has a little steel wheel in the end, 

90 An achromatic lens is one that is free from color. 

91 Cobalt is a metal and is usually found along with nickel. 

92 Uranium is also a metal. 



204 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



as shown at A in Fig. 83. You can buy one for a 
quarter and it will serve all your needs very well. If 
money is no object you can buy a glass cutter with 
a diamond point such as glaziers use for about $4.00. 
This kind of a glass cutter has a chip of genuine dia- 
mond in a swivel end and it is a pleasure to cut glass 
with one of them. It is shown at B. 



A 




Fig. 83. GLASS cutters 

A. A steel wheel glass cutter. 

B. A diamond point glass cutter. 

How to Use a Glass Cutter. — " There are tricks 
in all trades but ours," said the carpenter as he drove 
in a screw with a hammer, and so if you will dip the 
steel wheel cutter into some kerosene before each cut 
is made you will be surprised to find how easily it 
cuts. 

To use a diamond cutter, hold it just as you would 
hold a pencil and grip the three sided part with your 
thumb, index and middle fingers, as shown at C. 
Then place the cutter against the straight edge of your 
T square, press it down firmly on the glass and draw 
it along evenly. 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 205 

To make the right kind of a cut hold the diamond at 
a sharp angle, that is, very slanting, and raise it slowly 
until a smooth, sound and clear cut is made. Don't 




Fig. 83c THE RIGHT WAY TO HOLD A DIAMOND POINT GLASS CUTTER 



hold it straight up and down or you will surely spoil 
it, and never never cut twice over the same line. 




CUT ON THIS 



^T3QU/?R£ 
P^N£OFGl/?SS 



DR^W/NG BO/7RO 




Fig. 84. HOW to cut a pane of glass 

It takes more skill to use a diamond cutter the 
right way than to use a steel cutter, but a little practice 
will make you proficient. 



2o6 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

When you want to cut a sheet of glass lay it on your 
drawing board with the blade of the T square on it 
and the head of it against the edge of the glass as 
shown in Fig. 84; hold it tight and then make a good, 
clean cut. You can then easily break the sheet of glass 
along the cut if there is enough glass on each side of 
the cut to get a firm hold on. If not put it into one 
of the notches on the shank of the glass cutter and 
you can then easily break it off. 

How to Finish Off Glass Edges. — When you cut 
a sheet of glass the edge left by the cutter will be 
slightly rough. To smooth it up and round off the 
corners rub it on a zvhetstone, that is any kind of a 
coarse stone on which you have poured a little water. 
A better way is to grind it on a grindstone if you 
have one. 

How to Drill Holes in Glass. — To drill a hole 
through a sheet of glass make a layer of putty /4 an 
inch thick and as large as the sheet you are going to 
drill and lay the glass on it. 

The idea of using the bed of putty is to allow the 
glass to bend a little should you press down on the 
drill too hard. Take a Morse twist drill and, if you 
know how, grind it on a grindstone to a sharper point 
than it has when you get it ; the next best thing to do 
is to sharpen it on your oilstone. 

The best kind of a drill stock to use is an archimed- 
ian, or a reciprocating one, as shown at B in Fig. 11, 
on page 29, for then the pressure on the glass is even 
in every direction. Set the drill on the glass at the 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 207 

point where the hole is to be made; hold it with the 
fingers of your left hand to keep it from slipping and 
lubricate it well with turpentine. 

Work the drill at a fairly high speed and do not put 
too much pressure on the drill stock or you will surely 
break the glass. 

You will find it quite hard to drill a hole less than 
Vie inch in diameter through ordinary glass because 
the drills will break and when you drill a hole over Ys 
inch in diameter you will find it a slow job because of 
its size, but you can drill a hole up to % inch in di- 
ameter if you go slow and are careful. 

A Couple of Ways to Cut Glass Tubing. — The 
First V/ay. — A simple way to cut, or rather break off 
a piece of glass tube evenly is to make a cut all round 
the tube with a three-cornered file ^^ and you can 
break it off at the line without trouble. 




Fig. 85. A CUTTER FOR GLASS TUBES 

The Second Way. — An easy and sure way to cut 
glass tubing off smooth is to use a gauge glass cutter; ^^ 
this is a V steel rod with a seat on one end and a steel 
cutting wheel on the other. The arm of the rod hold- 
ing the wheel is marked off in fractions of an inch like 

92 The right name of a three cornered file is a three square 

me. 

^^ You can buy one of these tools of Hammacher, Schlemmer 
and Co., Fourth Ave. and 13th St., New York. 



208 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



a rule and a stop with a set screw in it slides on this rod 
as shown in Fig. 85. 

To use the cutter set the stop on the rod at the length 
you want to cut the tube; then put the rod with the 
cutter on it in the tube and with the seat outside ; press 
the V rods together tight and turn it and the tube in 
opposite directions when it will make a good cut and 
you can break the tube in two easily. 

How to Cut Glass Disks. — By sawing out a 
round board, laying it flat on a sheet of glass and 
running your glass cutter around the edge of the 
pattern you can cut out an approximately round disk 
of glass. 




Fig. 86. a circular glass cutter 

But to cut out a perfectly round disk you must have 
a circular glass cutter ^^ as shown in Fig. 86. It has 
an adjustable cutter head mounted on a square rod so 
that the head can be turned on it. The rod is mounted 
on a hardwood base so that it can revolve around the 
latter. 

After the cutter head is set on the rod for the size 
of the circle you intend to cut hold it down on the 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 209 

glass by the thumb-piece. The cutter head is then 
moved round in a circle and a clean cut is made after 
which the edge of the disk can be smoothed up. 

This circular glass cutter, which is called the 
Little Beauty J will cut a circle 20 inches in diameter 
and costs about 50 cents. If you are making a fric- 
tional electric machine this is the tool you need to cut 
the glass plates with. 

How to Bend Glass Tubing. — It is useful to know 
how to bend a piece of glass tubing, especially if you 
are interested in chemistry and want to set up some 
apparatus — in fact you should know how before you 
ever start to experiment. 

There are just two things you need to bend glass 
tubes with and these are ( i ) a Bunsen burner ^* and 
(2) the glass tubing, both of which you can buy of 
Eimer and Amend, Fourth Avenue, Cor. i8th Street, 
New York. 

What a Bunsen Burner Is. — This is a burner in 
which a jet of ordinary illuminating gas is mixed with 
air, the amount being regulated by a ring which opens 
and closes the air holes in the burner. 

A Bunsen burner makes a very hot flame because the 
gas in the tube moves faster than in an ordinary burner 
and the oxygen in the air aids the gas to bum. A 
plain Bunsen burner is shown at A, in Fig. ^y. If 
you have no gas in your house you can use an 

8* Complete instructions for making a Bunsen burner will be 
found in The Magic of Science by the present author and pub- 
lished by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. 



210 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



alcohol lamp ^^ which you can either buy or make for 
yourself. 

Bending the Glass Tube. — To bend a piece of glass 
tube you should have a fish tail jet set in the end of the 
Bunsen burner to give a wide flame like an illuminat- 
ing burner as shown at B. Hold the tube over the 
flame of the burner, or alcohol lamp until it is heated 
red hot all along the place you want to bend it. 




BURNER 

B 




fj CHEflP 
BUNSENBURNER 



BURNER 



T0C/9S 
SUPPLY 




PIRHOLE 
REGULPTOR 
FOR/?/R 



Fig. 87. KINDS OF bunsen burners 

Now turn the tube in the flame with your fingers 
until it is heated evenly all around and becomes soft; 
take it from the flame and quickly but gently bend it 
as you will w^hich you can do very easily. With 
very little practice you will be able to make a good 
smooth bend just where you want it. 

95 How to make an alcohol lamp out of an ink-bottle is ex- 
plained in The Magic of Science. 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 211 

To Round the Ends of a Tube. — When you cut a 
tube either with a file or a glass cutter the edge of the 
end will be sharp but not smooth. All you have to do 
to round it is to heat it in the flame until it begins to 
melt, when the glass will run and make a smooth 
edge. 

To Border the Ends of a Tube. — To border a 
tube means to spread the edge out a little all around 
so that a cork can be put in easier or a liquid poured 
out better. 



Q 




Fig. 88. bordering the end of a tube 

Take a piece of charcoal and shave it down with 
your knife to form a cone the size you want the border 
to be. Heat the end of the tube by turning it in the 
flame until it is quite soft and then push in the char- 
coal cone, as shown in Fig. 88. 

To Seal Off the End of a Tube.— To dose one 
end of a tube, or seal it off as it is called, heat it in 
a fish-tail burner just as I explained for bending 
glass. 

When the glass begins to get soft pull the two ends 
of the tube apart until the walls of the tube are drawn 
together as shown at A in Fig. 89. Cut a nick in the 
thin solid part with a file and break it off. If you 
want a closed end as shown at B heat the end of the 



212 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

tube you have sealed off and press it down on a piece 
of iron. 

^PULL J PULL -^ 

FLAME \)) 6<^^ 

Fig. 89. SEALING OFF THE END OF A TUBE 

To Make a Glass Nozzle. — In setting up chemical 
apparatus it very often happens that a glass nozzle is 
BLOW 
H^^ J\ CORK 




^HERE UTTLE&ULB 



B 




- — ^t^ 

THEHOLE 

Fig. 90. HOW to make a hole in a tube 

needed. To make a nozzle seal off a piece of glass 
tube as described above and by nicking it with a file 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 213 



you can have the hole in the end of the tube any size 
you want it. 

To Make a Hole in a Tube. — To make a hole of 
any size in a tube, or piercing it, as it is called, you 
ought to have a sharp pointed flame and a blow-pipe, 
which is described farther on. 

Cork up one end of the tube, heat the point, see A 
in Fig. 90, where you want the hole and then stick 
the other end in your mouth and blow gentle puffs 
in it until a little bulb is formed. When the bulb 
is cold take a file and gently crack the thin glass 
and trim it away; now heat the tube around the edge 
of the hole again until the glass begins to run when a 
round smooth hole will be produced as shown at B. 

To Join Two Tubes of the Same Size. — Put a 
cork into one end of one of the tubes and hold the 



PRESS HERE ^^ 



^^ 




CORK 



PRESS HERE 



A 



PRESS HERE CORK 



jXs. 



HEmHERE 



t 




d 



'PRESSHERE 



Fig. 9IA. WELDING TWO TUBES TOGETHER. B, MAKING A T TUBE 



214 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



other end in the flame as well as one end of the other 
tube as shown at A in Fig. 91. 

Let the ends of the tubes get hot enough to melt but 
not thicken; now press the melted ends together hard 
enough to make them stick together but not hard 
enough to make them form a thick ring. 



FUJME 




'/f/R 



Fig. 92A. A REGULAR BLOW-PIPE 

To make a good job you should now use a pointed 
flame and heat the juncture all around red hot and 
blow into the open end of the tube to spread the 
glass a trifle. While you are blowing keep turn- 
ing the glass in the flame to make the joint nice and 
smooth. 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 215 



To Join One Tube to the Side of Another One. 

— First make a hole in the side of the tube in the 
manner aheady described and then cork up both ends; 
heat the tube around the hole and one end of the other 
tube as shown at B, in Fig. 91. When they are soft 
press them together hard enough to make a good joint. 
It is a good scheme to wrap cotton around the joint 
while it is still hot to anneal the glass, which means to 
make it less brittle by letting it get cold slowly. 

STOPCOCK 
'FOR/ffR 



RUBBER 
COUPLING 




\ TOP OF 
\ T/JBLE 

J' 
TO BELLOWS 

Fig. 92B. CROSS section of a home made blow-pipe 

To Blow a Bulb on the End of a Tube.— How to 

Make a Blow-Pipe. — For blowing bulbs on tubes, for 
flasks and the like, you need a regular glassblower's 
blow-pipe in order to get a hotter flame than a Bunsen 
burner gives. 

You can buy a blow-pipe as shown at A in Fig. 92 
for $1.50,^*^ of you can easily make one as follows : get 

96 Blowpipes and bellows can be bought of Hammacher, 
Schlemmer and Co., Fourth Ave. and 13th St., New York. 



2l6 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



a brass tube % inch in diameter and lo inches long 
and drill a Vz inch hole in it 3 inches from one end; 
fit another pipe of the same size and length at an angle 
of about 30 degrees to the first one ; put a stopcock in 
the latter pipe and solder it to the first pipe over the 
hole as shown at B in Fig. 92. 

Next take a glass tube % inch in diameter and 14 
inches long and make a bend in it 3 inches from one 
end. Make a hole through a cork and push it over the 




Fig. 92c. THE GLASS BLOWING ARRANGEMENT READY TO USE 

glass tube; slip the tube into the brass pipe and force 
the cork into the end of the latter tight enough to hold 
the glass tube exactly in the middle of it. 

Connect the lower end of the glass tube with a rub- 
ber tube about 3 inches long to a brass tube of the 
same size and 8 inches long and fit a stopcock into this 
pipe. This completes the burner but you want to set 
the lower ends of the two tubes into and through the 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 217 

top of your table so that the stopcocks are above it and 
the lower ends of the tubes project below the table. 

Next connect the large brass tube with a gas jet or 
other source of illuminating gas and the small brass 
tube with a foot blower or other source of compressed 
air as shown at C. The blower can be an ordinary 
molders' bellows which you can buy for about $1.50, 
or you can make a pair, or you can buy a regular blow- 
pipe bellows as shown at D, which are very much 
better, for about $8.00. 




Fig. 92D. A REGULAR FOOT BELLOWS 

By adjusting the mouth of the glass tube — which 
is the air tube — that is, drawing it in and out of the 
mouth of the brass tube which is the gas tube, and by 
regulating the amount of air and gas, a pointed flame 
or a brush flame, that is, a flame of large size, can be 
had at the mouth of the blowpipe according to the 
work you are doing. 

How to Blow a Bulb. — Take a good piece of glass 
tube about % inch in diameter and 15 inches long; 



2i8 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

draw one end out long and thin for about 3 inches as 
shown at A in Fig. 93. 

Then heat a small part of the tube in a large, or 



PRESS HERE HE/^THERE 






PRESS HERE 




FLAME 




Fig. 93. FIRST STEPS IN BLOWING A GLASS BULB 

A. Drawing out the tube. 

B. Forming glass rings on the tube 

brush flame, turn the glass in the flame all the time 
until it is soft and then press on both ends to make 
the glass thicker at this point. Do the same thing 

^ /^ELT/?NPSE/fL 
THICK R/NG C OFFHFRF 

'CORK 



G 




Fig. 93c. MAKING A THICK RING OF GLASS 

above the ring thus formed, and so on until you have 
several rings of glass as shown at B, which are thick 
enough to make the sized bulb you want. 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 219 

Next heat the narrower parts marked a a a a and 
blow gently and press gradually on the ends to 
make the thick rings melt and flow together into one 
large ring of thick glass as shown at C; and in do- 
ing so be mighty careful that the walls do not cave 
in. 

Now melt and seal off the tail and heat the 
whole bulb in as large a flame as you can get and at 




THEFL/^SK 
WJiENDONB 

Fig. 93D. LAST STEP IN BLOWING A GLASS BULB 

the same time turn the tube till the rings run together. 
At this instant take it from the flame and, still turning 
it, blow into it with a few little quick blasts until you 
get the size and shape you want as shown at D. 

How to Etch Glass. — There are two ways to etch 
glass and these are (i) with a sand blast and (2) with 
acid. 

The Sand Blast Process. — The process which fol- 
lows is a simplified form of the regular sand-blast way 
of doing it, and with it you can easily make a ground 



220 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



glass surface or etch a stencilled name or a design on 
a sheet of glass. 

All you need is ( i ) a box with a tight fitting Hd 5 
inches wide, 5 inches high and 10 inches long as 
shown at A in Fig. 94. Cut a hole in one end, say 




Fig. 94A. PARTS OF the apparatus for sand blast etching 

4/{> X 4^4 inches, thus leaving a margin of wood % an 
inch wide all around; (2) a pound of rather coarse 
emery, and (3) a pound of shot. 

Clean the surface of the glass you are going to 
etch with w^arm water with a little soda in it, wash it 
off and rub it dry. Next cut a stencil with your 
name on it or you can make a geometrical design by 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 221 

folding a sheet of paper and cutting it out with a 
pair of shears. Coat the glass with a thin layer of 
mucilage, lay the stencil on it and rub it down flat. 
Rub the mucilage off clean in the cut out parts with a 
slightly moist sponge and be sure to get it all off too. 
Now cut out a piece of cloth the size of the end of 
the box and cut a hole in it the exact size of the hole 
in the box. Lay this on the end of the box with 




GL/?SS 
TENC/L 

CLOTH 



Fig. 94B. SAND BLAST APPARATUS PUT TOGETHER READY FOR ETCHING 

the hole in it, lay the glass over it and fix them all 
together tight with rubber bands as shown at B in Fig. 
94, or tie it up with string. The cloth cut-out between 
the box and glass will prevent the emery from sifting 
through. 

Put the shot and emery in the box, fasten the lid on 
tight and then shake it hard up and down so that 
the emery and shot will strike the surface of the glass 



222 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

with as much force as possible. Keep this up for 15 
minutes or half an hour when the glass will be etched 
deep enough. 

When you open the box you will find that the 
particles of emery have been embedded in the lead 
shot and each of the latter has become a cutting tool. 
This process of etching can be used for metals as well 
as for glass. 

How to Make Ground Glass. — To make ground 
glass go about it as above described but in this case 
no stencil is needed. 

The Acid Process. — Hydrofluoric acid is made by 
treating Huor-spar,^'' with sulphuric acid. The acid 
which is thus formed acts on glass by eating into it 
and for this reason it must be kept in either rubber, 
lead or platinum bottles upon which it has no effect. 
In etching large surfaces the acid is not put on the 
glass directly because it eats so smoothly the effect 
is not striking enough; instead the following process 
is used which leaves a rough surface more nearly like 
that of the sand blast. 

Make a lead dish the size of the glass you want 
to etch and with the sides an inch high. Put about 
an ounce of powdered flour-spar into the dish and 
pour enough concentrated sulphuric acid on it to make 
a thick paste. 

Coat the surface of the glass with paraffin, or bees- 

^"^ Fluorspar is calcium fluoride; you can buy it of Eimer and 
Amend, 4th Ave. and i8th St., New York, or of the L. E. Knott 
Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass. • 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 223 

wax and rosin, and then with a steel scriber, or other 
pointed instrument scratch on your name or the de- 
sign you intend to etch, clear through to the glass. 
Lay the glass with the waxed side down on the dish 
containing the fluor-spar mixture, as shown at A in 
Fig. 95, and let it stand over night. The vapor formed 



/RUBBER 
BOTTLE 

RUBBE/^ 

stopp£:r^± 



'^YDROFLUOR/C/?C/D 







TRJ9Y 



FLOOR spmrno 
SULPHURIC /?ap 

ETCH/NG j7 
THERnOMETERTVaE 

Fig. 95. ETCHING GLASS WITH ACID 

A. Etching a sheet of glass with fluor-spar. 

B. Etching a thermometer tube with hydrofluoric acid. 

by generating hydrofluoric acid in this way attacks the 
silica, that is the sand, of the glass with which it has 
a great tendency to unite, and thus the glass disinte- 
grates or is eaten away. 

The next morning when you take of? the glass, 
scrape off the wax and you will find the name or de- 
sign etched on it. 



224 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

To etch the graduations on thermometers, burettes, 
etc., coat them with wax and scratch the hues and 
figures on them just as described above — but in this 
case you can put the hydrofluoric acid on direct as 
shown at B, using a spHnter of wood for the purpose. 

How to Cement Glass. — To cement glass clean 
the edges or surfaces to be fixed together with hot 
water in which you have put a little soda; dry well 
with a clean cloth and then be careful not to let your 
fingers touch the cleaned parts. 

Brush over the edges or surfaces of the glass with 
the cement made according to the directions which 
follow and press and bind the parts together as tightly 
as possible. 

To make the cement dissolve 2 ounces of the best 
gum arable in some hot water and then add 1% ounces 
of pulverized starch and % ounce of sugar and stir 
until they are dissolved. Heat the mixture in a pot or 
a tin can which sets in a larger pot or tin of water — 
or zvater bath as it is called. 

When the starch gets clear take it from the fire, put 
in a few drops of oil of cloves to keep the cement 
sweet and let it get cold, when it should be about as 
thick as cream. 

A Simple Way to Frost Glass. — Make a saturated 
solution of alum zvater, which means to dissolve as 
much alum in hot water as possible. 

Lay the glass on a perfectly level table and pour on 
as much of the alum water as you can without its 
running off and let it cool slowly, when the alum will 



THE ART OF WORKING GLASS 225 

cover the glass with fine crystals. This is a good 
substitute for ground glass. 

A cheap frosting for windows can be made by dis- 
solving Epsom salts in hot water and then mixing it 
with a clear solution of gum arabic. 

Substitutes for Glass. — There are a number of 
substances that can be used instead of glass. In some 
cases a substitute is better than glass but generally they 
are used because they are cheaper. 

Mica. — This mineral, which is also but wrongly 
called isinglass, is found in Farther India; it is a 
silicate and can be split into thin sheets; in color it 
ranges from colorless to a jet black and from the 
transparent to the translucent. It is useful in many 
ways because it is fireproof. 

Gelatine. — Gelatine is obtained from the skins, 
hoofs and horns of animals. Isinglass is a nearly 
pure gelatine and is a white, tough, partly transparent 
substance which is obtained chiefly from the air-blad- 
ders of fish. 

To make sheets of either gelatine, or isinglass, dis- 
solve some of the finest glue, or isinglass — the lat- 
ter is the best — in enough hot water so that it will 
form a flexible solid sheet when it is cold. 

While it is still hot strain it through a piece of 
cheese cloth; this done, grease a clean sheet of glass 
and build up the edges with some putty; warm the 
glass and pour on the gelatine to a thickness of Vs inch. 
Now lay another greased and hot sheet of glass on top 
of the gelatine and let it stay there until it is cold. 



226 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

The sheets of gelatine can be given any color by add- 
ing a little aniline to the gelatine while it is hot. 

How to Silver a Mirror. — While it is much 
cheaper to buy a mirror than it is to make one still 
there are times when it is useful to know how to 
make one. 

As you know, a mirror is a sheet of clear glass 
free from air bubbles and upon the back of which is a 
film of silver. The silver bath is made by mixing a 
weak solution of silver nitrate with ammonium 
hydroxide until the solution is clear and then adding 
a little caustic potash to it. This done, put in a few 
more drops of ammonia and finally a very little 
glycerine. 

Now float the glass on this mixture when the sur- 
face will soon be coated with silver. When the film 
is thick enough take the glass from the bath, wash 
the film of silver on the back of it with clean, cold 
water, dry and varnish it and your mirror is done. 



CHAPTER X 
TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 

If there is as much pleasure in giving as there is in 
receiving you can get twice as much pleasure out of 
making toys with your own hands and giving them to 
your little brothers and sisters — if you have any, and 
if you haven't, then I'm truly sorry for you. 

Since you know how to use wood and metal work- 
ing tools it will be easy for you to make any and all 
of these toys I have described in this chapter and some 
of them are quite useful too. And when you are 
making them let the little folks watch you for this 
will please them greatly and make them doubly happy. 

Now some grown-ups don't know it but however 
small a kiddie is he or she likes to play with things 
that look like those the older folks work with. Of 
course all toys cannot be of this kind for some of 
them are made to be funny and others are made to be 
lifelike, but these are the three chief kinds of toys. 

How to Make a Policeman's Puzzle. — Get two 
strips of wood % inch thick, Yo an inch wide and ii 
inches long and cut handles on one end of each strip. 
Saw with your scroll saw out of % inch thick wood, 
two policemen 6 inches high and also one Baxter 

227 



228 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Street clothier of Semitic persuasion, 3 inches high as 
shown in Fig. 96. 

Pivot the leg near the foot of each policeman to 
the ends of both of the strips by driving a couple of 
brads through and into them and then nail the Israelite 
fast to the top strip vv^ith a couple of brads. Nov^ 




Fig. 96. A policeman's puzzle, or now will you be good 

v^^hen you pull the strips apart one of the long arms 
of the law^ will crack Ikey on the cranium and when 
the strips are pushed together again the other minion 
of authority will bounce his club on the place where 
his brains ought to be. A little red and blue water 
color will add to the realism of the toy. 

How to Make an Automobile Truck. — This little 
toy will bring a lot of unalloyed joy to any tiny, weentie 
fellow and it's easy to make, too. 

Cut out a board for the bottom % inch thick, 4% 
inches wide and 14 inches long ; trim down one end of it 
so that it is 2 inches wide in front as shown at A 
Fig. 97. Bore a V^ inch hole 2% inches from the 
front end. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



229 



Saw off a block of wood i inch square and 2% 
inches long — this is to brace the seat with — and glue 
this block across the body 6% inches from the back as 
shown by the dotted line in Fig. 97. Make a seat of 
a board % inch thick, iVo inches wide and 3% inches 
long and glue or nail it to the block. 




C-TH^HOOD 





1 


1 


n 






1 


i i 


^.^-^^^^ 




TOP VJ£W 
Fig. 97. PLANS FOR THE AUTOMOBILE TRUCK 

To make the body or box, cut out two strips of 
wood 34 inch thick and make one 2 inches wide and 
the other 2^/1 inches wide and 4% inches long for the 
front and back, and two strips of wood 2 inches wide 
and 6% inches long for the sides. Nail one of the 
short strips on the bottom close up to the seat and the 
blocks of wood it rests on and nail the side strips on 
the bottom. • 

Next round off the lower edge of the short board 



230 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



that is left; set it in between the ends of the side- 
boards and drive a brad through each of the side- 
boards and into the tail-board near the bottom; this 
brings the tail-board so that it can be closed up or let 
down as the side view at B shoves. 

Saw off two % inch square blocks and have both of 
them just a shade over 4^ inches long and these are 
for the axles. Nail one fast near the rear of the bot- 
tom 2 inches from the back end, and nail the other 
one fast to the front of the bottom i inch from the 
end. 



^ 




Fig. 97D. THE AUTOMOBILE TRUCK READY TO RUN 



Make a hood out of a block of wood 1% inches 
wide and long and 2 inches high and bevel off the top 
as shown at C; nail this to the bottom in front as 
shown in the top and side views. For the steering 
wheel saw out a wheel % inch thick and 1% inches in 
diameter. 

The last thing to do is to saw out four wheels % 
inch thick and 2% inches in diameter; drill a Vs inch 
hole in the exact center of each wheel and screw it on 
the end of the axle with a i inch long, round head, 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



231 



wood screw. Paint the .automobile a bright red when 
it will look like D and run like a fire engine. 

How to Make a Swell Coaster. — This is a prac- 
tical toy that every little tot will like immensely. It 
is just as simple as the automobile but it must be made 
very much stronger. 



/^•' 



o 




/s" 






l.^f 



/f-TOP V/ey/ TWNDU 







^ BOLT 



\ 



C-/^^\A 



—■K 



•^ 



T^ 



HmG5R 
C'S/DE Y/EW B'/fXLE SUPPORT 

Fig. 98. PLANS FOR A SWELL COASTEE 

Get a board, hardwood is the best, % or i inch 
thick, 5% inches wide and 14 inches long and saw it 
out so that one end is 2% inches wide as shown at 
A in Fig. 98; bore a hole i inch in diameter in the 
front end and %6 inch holes across the back at the 
places marked with circles. 

Next make the rear axle support and for this saw 
out of a I inch thick board a piece 4 inches wide and 



232 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



7 inches long and saw out of one end of it a piece 2 
inches square. Take your brace and bit and bore a 
% inch hole through the hangers as shown at B. 

Screw this support to the seat across it ii4 inches 
from the rear end. Brace the support by screwing an 
angle brace, as shown in the side view C, to it and the 
seat. This done make the steering handle, and for 
it you want to use a stick of hardwood i inch 




Fig. 98E. THE COASTER READY TO RIDE ON 



thick, 2 inches wide and 15 inches long; saw a piece 
out of one end iVs inches wide and 2^ inches deep 
for the axle support for the front wheel ; saw the other 
end down until it is i inch wide and 6 inches deep. 

Round off this smaller end for the handle, as shown 
at D, and bore a Yz inch hole close to the end for the 
handle bar. Slip the rounded end through the hole 
in the front part of the seat, drive a nail through it 
just above the seat and glue in a piece of wood /4 an 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 233 

inch in diameter and 6 inches long, for the handle 
bar. 

Saw out three wheels each of which is 4 inches in 
diameter, bore a ^4 inch hole in the center of each 
one. Set one of the wheels between the hangers of 
the steering handle, slip a bolt through them and screw 
on a nut. 

Push a bolt through each of the other wheels and 
through a hanger of the axle support and screw on a 
nut, when the coaster is ready to run, as shown at E. 
A coat of bright paint will make it more attractive but 
it won't run any better. 

How to Make a Nifty Wheelbarrow. — This is a 
cute wheelbarrow and will tickle any little choptie 
'most half to death and you can make it in no time. 

Get two sticks of wood % inch square and 24 inches 
long and round off one end of each one about 3 inches 
down for the handle. Next bore % inch holes half 
way through in the other ends of the sticks 4 inches 
back for the axle; bore two more % inch holes 6% 
inches back of the first two, and finally 5% inches back 
of the last ones bore two more % inch holes, as shown 
at A in Fig. 99. 

This done cut off four sticks % an inch in diameter 
— or % inch square ones will do — and make one of 
them 434 inches long; the next one 6% inches long, 
the third 8 inches long, and the last one 10^ inches 
long. 

Out of a board i inch thick saw a wheel 5 inches in 
diameter and bore a hole in its center % an inch in 



234 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



diameter. Smear some glue on the middle of the 
shortest stick and slip the wheel on it so that it is 
exactly in the middle. 

Make the body, that is the box, of the barrow ofi 
wood "14 inch thick and have it 4^/4 inches wide at one 
end, 6/4 inches wide at the other end, 5 inches high 




TOPVtEW OF 
WHEEL B/IRROW 




\ 



C- mEBLBARROW COMPLETE 



B- SIDE VJEyV 

Fig. 99. A, B. PLANS FOR THE NIFTY WHEELBARROW. C. THE 
BARROW READY TO WHEEL 

and 7 inches long. Through the middle, but a little 
toward the back and near the upper edge, bore two 
holes a shade larger than % an inch in diameter and 
slip the third longest stick through the holes in the 
body; drive a brad through the stick on each side of 
the body to keep the latter from slipping from side to 
side, but it must swing easily on the stick. 

You are now ready to assemble the wheelbarrow 
and if you intend to paint it you must do so before you 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 235 

put it together. To assemble it smear glue on the 
ends of all the cross-sticks, except the one with the 
wheel on it for this one must revolve, and drive on 
the handles, being careful that the axle of the wheel 
does not bind. A side view of the wheel barrow is 
shown at B. 

When it is done, see C, you will see that however 
high or low the handle-bars are held the body always 
sets level and if it is a good idea for a toy why 
wouldn't it be a good idea for a full grown wheel- 
barrow ? 

How to Make a High-Low Swing. — Here is a 
peace promoter and a queller of disturbances wher- 
ever there are very little kiddies around. It is an in- 
door swing that can be hung from the top of a door- 
case. Further, though it may look a little complicated 
in the drawing, it is simplicity itself. 

First take the seat and for this, as for all of the 
wood for the swing, use % inch thick stuff. Cut out 
two side bars i inch wide and 13 inches long and drill 
a % inch hole in the end of each one. Across these 
bars nail four cross bars 2 inches wide and 14 inches 
long as shown at A in Fig. 100. 

Next make the sides of the swing and from each of 
these saw off two strips i inch wide and 13 inches 
long as shown at B. Bore a hole in each end of both 
sticks to match the holes in the side bars of the seat 
and then bore two % inch holes in both sticks and 
have each hole 2V2 inches from the end. 

Saw off two strips of wood V2 inch thick and i inch 



236 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



wide for each side, cut down and round the ends, 
smear glue on them and drive them into the cross- 
sticks. The backs of the swing, as you will see at C, 
are made exactly like the sides except that they are 
14 inches long, and finally a single bar i inch thick 



^ 






C^OSS B/fRS 






/^" 



/i-TH£SE/IT 




E 



21 



C' FRONT B/fR 

Fig. 100. PLANS FOR THE HIGH-LOW SWING 

and wide and 14 inches long with a % inch hole in 
each end goes across the front of the swing to keep 
the little fellow from falling out. 

Now get two pieces of good % inch thick manila 
rope about 10 feet long; double each piece in the 
middle and pass one end through the hole in the 
front bar, thence through two holes in the side-strips 
and finally through the hole in the cross-bar of the 
seat and then knot it. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



237 



This done pass the other end through the holes in 
the cross-strips of the back, then through the holes 
in the cross-strips of the side and last of all through 
the cross-bars of the seat. Fix the other piece of rope 
the same way and swing is done, as shown at D. 




Fig. iood. the swing ready to swing low, swing high 

All you have to do now is to loop the top of the 
ropes over a couple of hooks screwed into the top 
of the door-case, put the little tot in and give him or 
her a swing. 

How to Make a Stick Horse. — This is a great 
improvement over riding a broomstick because it 
doesn't take so much imagination to change it into a 
runaway horse. 

Saw out of a board 5 inches square the head of 



238 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



a fiery steed as shown at A in Fig. loi and paint it 
a dapple-gray, with a mane on its neck to look like a 
real pony. Make a rein of webbing and then nail 
the head on a stick % or i inch square and 3 feet long 
for the rider to straddle. 

THE HE/) P OF THE HORSE 




THE STICK HORSE 
CO/iPLET£ 



Fig. ioi. ride a stick horse to banbury cross 

Make an axle of a stick i inch square and 4 inches 
long; whittle the ends down until they are % an inch 
in diameter and nail the axle to the free end of the 
long stick. Saw out a pair of wheels of % inch thick 
stuff, 4 inches in diameter and bore a % inch hole 
through their centers. 

Slip a wheel over each end of the axle and drive 
a thin nail through each end to prevent the wheels 
from coming off, and it will be fit and ready to ride 
as shown at B. • 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 239 

How to Make a Pony and Cart. — If this little 
pony and cart are to be played with in the house you 
can make it the size marked in Fig. 102 but if it is 
to be used out-of-doors then you should make it twice 
the size. 

Get a nice smooth board % an inch thick, draw on it 
a horse, at least as good as the one shown in the pic- 
ture, and then saw it out. Paint it any color but red 
or green, for ponies, even in little picture books, are 
never of these colors. 

Make a frame 1% inches wide and 4 inches long 
by nailing two strips of wood % an inch square with 
a block of wood % an inch square and i inch long 
between them. This leaves an opening % an inch 
wide and 1% inches long as shown at A. Saw out 
of a piece of % inch thick wood a wheel i inch in 
diameter and drill a Ke inch hole through its center. 
Set the wheel in the opening and drive a wire nail 
through the frame and the center of the wheel for it 
to run on. This done nail, glue or screw the horse 
to it as shown at B. 

Make the cart next, see C, which is simply a box 
made of ^ or % inch stuff, 3 inches high, 4 inches 
wide and 6 inches long. Nail a strip of wood H an 
inch square and 4% inches long on the bottom and in 
the middle of it. Saw out a pair of wheels 2% inches 
in diameter and screw them to the ends of the strip 
of wood so that they can turn freely. 

Next make the shafts: these are formed of two 
strips of wood ^ inch thick and about 5% inches long. 



240 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Nail the ends of these to the front end of the cart in 
the middle and at a distance apart so that the horse 
will just slip in between them. 




■xi:7 




COMPLETB 




FR/IMBFOR 
THE WHEEL 
'^ 6*" ^ 



PONY 




Fig. 109 A, B. PLANS FOR A PONY AND CART. C. THE PONY AND 
CART WHEN DONE 



Glue, or otherwise fasten the shafts to the horse, 
as shown at D, and you can then show your little 
brother how to play with it, but don't break it before 
you give him a chance to play with it too. The 
finished pony and cart will then look like the picture. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



241 



How to Make a Life-like Goose. — Nearly all 
geese, including goslings, are lifelike unless they are 
being made ready for the pot but this gray-goose is 
lifelike in that her head moves out from and back 
toward her body when she is drawn over the floor by a 
string. 

Get two pieces of thin wood V^ inch thick, 3% inches 
wide and 6 inches long; draw the outline of a goose's 




Fig. 103. HOW the life-like goose is made 

A. The size of the board for the body. 

B. The size of the board for the head and neck. 

C. The crank shaft which makes the goose life-like. 

body on one of them, as shown at A in Fig. 103, and 
then fasten them together with a couple of brads. 
Saw them out and drill a, Viq inch hole through them 
in the center of the circle which is the wheel; also 
drill, or bore, three ^ inch holes at the points near 
the edge of the body as shown by the larger circles. 



242 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

On a board V^ inch thick, 2% inches wide and 5H 
inches long draw out the head and the neck of a 
goose, as shown at B, saw it out and drill d. Vie inch 
hole near the end of its neck. Now paint the bird's 
body and the anterior part of its anatomy — by which 
I mean its head and neck. Saw out two wooden 
wheels 2 inches in diameter and drill a -Ke hole in 
the center of each one. 

Cut off a piece of iron wire Viq inch thick, slip it 
through the hole in the goose's neck and bend the 
wire on both sides of it to form a crankshaft as shown 
at C. The next move is to put each end of the 
wire through the small hole in the body, then force a 
wheel on each end of the wire tight and bend up what 
is left of the latter. 



Fig. 103c. GOOsiE, goosie gander, where shall i wander 

Make three pins of wood % inch in diameter and 
% inch long; smear some glue on the ends and drive 
them gently through the holes; these pins will keep 
the boards which form the body the right distance 
apart and the pins in front also act as a guide for the 
goose's head. When finished it will look like C. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



243 



Now when a string is tied to the front part of the 
goose's body and your Httle sister (or you) pulls it 
over the floor, the goose will run its head to and fro 
and forth and back in a most real and life-like fashion. 
How to Make a Dancing Sambo. — Here is a 
chance for you to get in your fine work with your 
scroll saw and to do a bit of wood carving at the same 
time if you want to. 




Fig. IO4A. THE DANCING SAMBO 

Saw out, or carve out, or both, the head and body 
of a black rascal named Sambo, and make them of 
a single piece of wood; saw out a pair of arms and 
legs but make each one of the latter in two parts and 
joint them at the knees as shown at A in Fig. 104. 

Fasten the arms and legs to the body with pins so 
that they will swing freely. The figure should be 
about 6 inches high and painted in 3 or 4 bright colors. 
When you have it done fix the end of a wire M.6 inch 
in diameter and 5 inches long, firmly into the back of 
Sambo's body. 



244 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Make a box 3 inches wide, 3 inches high and 6 
inches long; bore or cut a hole % inch in diameter in 
one end; turn it upside down and drill a %6 hole 
through the middle of the top and drill a %6 inch 
hole through both sides 2 inches back from the large 
hole in it as shown at B. 



ffj' 




HOteWTOP 
OFBOX 
HOLE/N 



0P£R/?rJNO 



Fig. IO4B. THE MECHANISM OF THE DANCING SAMBO 



Cut off a strip of wood % an inch square and as 
long as the box is wide, drill a -J^e inch hole through 
it and glue it inside the box so that the hole in the 
strip and the one in the top of the box will be in a 
line. 

Now cut off a strip of hardwood H inch thick and 
3J^ inches long for the lever and drill a Ke inch hole 
through it 2 inches from one end; ,slip the lever 
through the hole in the end of the box with its end 
under the cross-bar; pivot the lever by running a wire 
through the hole in it and the sides of the box as 
shown at B. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 245 

Slip the wire which is fixed to Sambo through the 
hole in the top of the box and on down through the 
hole in the cross-bar so that its free end rests on the 
end of the lever. This is all there is to the working 
mechanism of Sambo. 

By working the end of the lever with your fingers 
as though you were sending a telegraph message, as 
shown at A, the small time Ethiopian will execute all 
sorts of fancy dance steps and cut up antics that will 
keep the children, and the grown-ups too, in great 
good humor for a long time. 

By working the lever cleverly you can give the 
darkey distinctive charactertistics that not even a mem- 
ber of his own race ever possessed. 




Fig. I05A. THE WIRELESS PUP. THE SLOT IN THE FLOOR OF THE 

DOG HOUSE 

How to Make a Wireless Pup.— This is a most 
remarkable bull-pup for he will jump out of the kennel 
when you or any one else calls him, when you clap your 



246 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



hands or on any other occasion when a loud noise is 
made. 

Always make a dog-house for a pup before you 
catch him so that when he gets home he'll know he's 
there. Use smooth % inch thick pine boards for the 
house and cut out a piece 7 inches wide and 8 inches 

•A" 




^ 



k 7" ^ 

CD 3/?CK 

Fig. IO5B. THE BACK END OF THE DOG HOUSE 

long for the floor. Cut a slot clear through the board 
1% inches from one end and parallel with the edge of 
the back and have it V2 an inch wide and i-!4 inches 
long; then on each end of the slot cut a groove 'V2 an 
inch long and ^ inch deep as shown at A in Fig. 105. 
Cut out two pieces for the sides of the house 4 
inches wide and 8 inches long and screw them to the 
floor. Now bevel off the top edges of the sides with 
a plane to allow for the slope of the roof but before 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 



247 



you put it on you must install the wireless apparatus 
that makes the pup jump out of the dog-house. Make 
a back out of a board 7 inches square as shown at B. 

This apparatus consists of five chief parts and these 
are (i) a spanker; (2) a solenoid; (3) a stiff piece of 
clock-spring ; (4) a telephone transmitter and (5) two 
or three cells of dry battery. 

The spanker, so called because it spanks the pup out 



TIN CON- 
TACT STRIP 



'LUNGER. 
30 LT 

CONT/fCT 
PL/fT£ 



BR/fOS 
ORPIVOTS 

Fig. 105c. THE SPANKER WITH ELECTRIC SOLENOID CONTROL 

of his kennel, is shown at C; it is simply a strip of 
wood % inch thick, i inch wide and 3% inches long. 
Tack, or otherv^ase fix, a piece of tin to one side of it 
to form an electrical contact ; cut a % inch hole in the 
middle of it and then drive a brad in each edge near 
one end. The spanker sets in the slot in the floor and 
the brads rest in the grooves and serve as pivots. 
A solenoid is merely an electromagnet with a loose 




248 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



iron core in it. Make a cardboard spool i^^ inches 
long and i/4 inches in diameter and have the hole in 
it %6 inch in diameter; wind it full of No. 20 or 22 
double cotton covered magnet wire and your solenoid 
is done. An iron bolt % inch in diameter and 1% 
inches long makes a good plunger, as the loose iron 




Fig. 105D. CROSS section side view of the wireless pup ready 

FOR action 

core is called. Slip it through the hole in the spanker 
and screw the solenoid to the inside of the back of the 
house as shown in the cross section drawing at D. 

Make a contact plate of a strip of tin or sheet brass 
and screw this to the floor back of the spanker so that 
when the plunger is drawn into the solenoid and the 
spanker is back as far as it will go the plate will come 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 249 

in contact with the tin on the spanker. Put a stop in 
front of the spanker to prevent the latter from falhng 
too far forward. 

Next get a strong, stiff piece of clock-spring, punch 
two holes in one end and screw it to the back of the 
house near the top, with the free end of the spring 
pressing out the spanker. Fasten by means of hang- 




c FRONT 

Fig. IO5E. THE FRONT END VIEW OF THE WIRELESS PUP 

HOUSE 

ers, or otherwise, an ordinary telephone transmitter to 
the roof of the house as shown at D. Now make 
the front of the house and cut a 4 x 5 opening in it 
for the pup to get in and out, and a hole 1% inches in 
diameter, as shown at E, so that when you put the 
front on, the hole will be directly over the mouth- 
piece of the transmitter. 



250 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



Before putting on the front connect up the appar- 
atus as shown at D, that is, connect one of the wires 
of the transmitter to the contact plate; join the other 
wire of the transmitter to the battery ; lead one of the 
wires of the solenoid to the tin on the spanker. When 
these connections are made the circuit will be com- 




FlG. IO5F. WHEN YOU CALL THE WIRELESS PUP OR CLAP YOUR HANDS 
HE COMES OUT OF HIS DOG HOUSE IN A HURRY 



plete if a battery is connected in and the spanker is 
pushed back. Now put on the front of the house 
and then make the pup. 

Saw the body of the pup and his legs out of separate 
pieces of wood and glue them together. He should 
be 2% inches high and 5 inches long when done and 
he must slide easily on the floor. See F, Fig. 105. 



TOYS FOR THE KIDDIES 251 

The action of the wireless pup is Hke this: You 
push the pup into the house and back against the 
spanker as far as he will go; this presses the spring 
back and at the same time makes connection with the 
contact plate which closes the circuit. 

The current from the battery then flows through the 
solenoid and transmitter and this magnetizes the iron 
plunger core and holds the spanker back against the 
force of the spring. 

If now you call loudly, or clap your hands, the 
carbon granules in the transmitter will vibrate and 
this will suddenly weaken the current, and, hence, the 
magnetism of the solenoid. The instant the magnetic 
pull of the solenoid is weaker than the spring the latter 
will force the spanker against the posterior end of the 
pup's anatomy and boost him out of his kennel. 



CHAPTER XI 
HOME MADE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

There is music in everything if you only know how 
to get it out without cracking it. When a small boy 
beats a pie-pan with a stick, or drums on a wooden 
fence he is making music, only the neighbors won't 
believe it. 

This is because he sets up the same note in succes- 
sion and after a while the constant repetition of this 
single note gets on a grown-up's nerves, especially if 
he is writing a book; hence he thinks the sounds are 
noise but it is really music of a bombastic ^^ order. 

By this I mean that what we call noise is sound set 
up by uneven air zvaves ^^ in time and volume while 
music is made by a tone, or tones, of even air waves. 
Any musical instrument that produces sound by shock, 
or concussion as it is called, is said to be bombastic. 

When a bombastic instrument is played alone the 
sounds set up by it are not very sweet or musical but if 
you will use a set of eight of them, or octave as it is 

Q8 The gong, drum, bell, and cymbals all set up sound by con- 
cussion and these are called bombastic instruments. 

9» For the theory of air waves and sound see The Magic of 
Science by the present author, published by Fleming H. Revell 
and Co., New York. 

252 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 253 

called, and tune them so that the pitch — which is the 
number of air waves that are produced and heard in 
a second of time — of each one is a note higher than 
the one before it and then make first one and the other 
vibrate you will produce pleasing tones, and by com- 
bining these tones properly you will have a resemblance 
of what we call music. 

The Musical Coins. — How to Make Them. — A 
simple and very pleasing way to show that there is 
music even in cold brass is to take a piece of sheet 
brass, or, better, sheet steel, about Vie inch thick and 
scribe on it with a pair of compasses eight circles 
'"ose diameters range from 2 inches to 3 inches. 

f^ 3 3H 



Fig. io6a. the musical coin 

Saw them out and file them down so that each one 
will ring out a whole number, as it is called in physics ; 
that is, if the largest and deepest toned coin, or disk, 
makes 250 vibrations a second, the next one must make 
500 vibrations a second, the next 750 and so on 
until the smallest and highest pitched coin will make 
2000 vibrations a second. 



254 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

When each coin rings out its whole number, or 
nearly so, you will have what is known as a harmonic 
series. Now saw notches in the edges of each one 
as shown at A in Fig. io6 and then file them until the 
tone of each one is just right. 

How to Play Them. — To play a tune with the 
musical coins spin them on the top of a table — a 




Fig. io6b. how to hold the musical coin to spin it 

marble top table is the best — and as each coin dies 
down ^^^ and its edge strikes progressively against the 
surface of the table it will ring out in a clear, loud 
tone. 

The coins should be laid in a row on the table and 

100 If you will look closely at the spinning coin you will see 
that when it spins fast at first the axis about which it rotates is 
its diameter and that the coin stands upright. As the coin com- 
mences to die down the axis about which it spins gradually begins 
to shift from the diameter to the center of the coin until finally 
at the finish the coin is spinning directly about its center. This 
motion is the same as the processional motion of the earth. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



^SS 



whatever note you want to ring out pick up the coin 
which will produce it, hold it as shown at B, and give 
it a little spin. You can soon learn to spin them with 
either hand and keep two or more of them going at 
the same time, when you will have that agreeable 
combination of tones that is known in music as har- 
mony. 

The musical coins are easy to learn to play and at 
a little distance off they look like real coins and are 
a very pleasing novelty. 

The Musical Tomato Cans. — How to Make 
Them. — The musical tomato cans make a bombastic 
instrument — very bombastic I should say. Be that 




n/JLLET 



FELT' 



Fig. 107. THE CHOPIN TOMATO CAN 

as It may, get eight tomato cans, soak the labels off 
carefully and keep them. Next melt off the tops of 
the cans and paste the labels on them again. Set each 
can on a piece of felt as shown in Fig. 107. 

Now by pouring water in the cans you can tune 



256 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

them so that each one will send forth a whole number 
note and all of them together will give the notes in the 
regular order of an octave. You do not need to put 
any water in the first can but use this one for the fun- 
damental note, that is the note on which the chord is 
formed. 

Make a couple of mallets, as the sticks to beat the 
cans with are called, of a pair of sticks about as thick 
as a lead-pencil and twice as long and glue a wooden 
ball % inch in diameter on one end of each one. 

To Play the Tomato Cans. — When you have tuned 
the cans set them in a row on a piece of felt, or a 
couple of thicknesses of thick woolen cloth will do, 
and with a mallet in each hand tap them softly. 

While some folks who have no ear for melody, 
harmony and dissonance ^^ ^ may say that both the in- 
strument and the performer ought to be canned still 
the instrument is a great one to play Chopin's ^^^ 
funeral dirge ^'^^ on. Undertakers are crazy about 
the musical tomato cans. 

The Musical Glasses. — How to Make Them. — 
Different from the tomato cans, the musical glasses 
make about the sweetest music ever heard. To make 
a set get eight very thin glass goblets and mount them 
on a board 12 inches wide and 2 feet long. An easy 
way to do this is to fasten the foot of each goblet down 

101 These are the three chief factors that make up the various 
combinations of tones which we call music. 

102 Chopin (pronounced Sho'-pan) was a Polish musical com- 
poser. 

103 A dirge is a tune expressing grief and mourning. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 257 

with a couple of thin strips of tin or brass placed 
across it and screwing the ends of these to the board 
as shown in Fig. 108. 

To tune the glasses pour water in them until each 
has exactly the right pitch and together they form an 
octave. When you have learned to play simple tunes 
on an octave of musical glasses you can build up the 
set to 22 glasses or three octaves, which will give you 
enough notes to play almost any of the popular airs. 



Fig. 108. THE MUSICAL GLASSES 

How to Play the Glasses. — Before starting in to 
play moisten the rims of the glasses and rub your 
fingers with water in which you have put some vinegar, 
or better, a little acetic acid/^^ until they feel quite 
rough. 

Now when you lay the tips of your fingers flat on 
the rim of a glass and rub them around it, the friction 
between the skin of your roughened fingers and the 
edge of the glass will set the latter into vibration and 
a wonderfully sweet tone will be sent out. By varying 
the pressure of your fingers on the glasses you can pro- 
duce a very, beautiful tremolo effect. 

104 This is the acid contained in vinegar that gives it its value. 



258 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



It is a good scheme to put a few drops of acetic acid 
into each goblet so that just as quickly as the volume 
of sound begins to fall off you can dip your finger 
tips into whatever glass they are nearest to and so in- 
crease the friction between them and the glass. 

If you can play a set of musical glasses well your 
services will be in demand for all kinds of entertain- 
ments. 

The Tubular Harp,— How to Make It.— This 
easily made instrument gives out tones very much like 
those of the musical glasses but they are much deeper 
and louder. 



/? 



s^ 



\GLUE CLOTH ON HERE 



e 



=&= 



B 



ff.r' 



36' 



!?■'■ 



<V 



Sl. 



w 



6 



Fig. 109 A, B. THE HARP OF A THOUSAND THRILLS 



To make this harp you will need 12 feet of V2 inch 
hell-metal ^^^ tube — brass tube will do but it is not as 
good — and cut it into eight pieces ; saw off the first 

1*^5 Brass and bell metal tubing can be bought of the U. T. 
Hungerford Brass & Copper Co., 89 Lafayette St., New York. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



259 



tube 2 feet long and cut off each of the other pieces 
% an inch shorter than the one before it. Cyhndrical 
sticks of wood can also be used for the tubes. 

Get two strips of wood i inch square and 3 feet 
long and screw them together as shown at A in Fig. 
109 with a couple of thumb screws; this done bore 
eight % inch holes in the sticks every 4 inches apart 
and smooth them out with a half-round file. 

Glue a strip of cloth on the side of each strip that 
is bored out, set each tube with the middle in the 
groove so that they grow shorter in steps and screw 
the strips together tight with the thumb screws to 
hold the tubes in securely as shown at B. 




♦, 
Fig. 109c. HOW to play the harp 

To tune the tubes saw off and file off the end of 
each tube until it gives forth the proper note. When 
you have tuned them make a stand to hold the instru- 



26o HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

ment and this can be of either wood, or metal tubing 
if you want the harp to look nice and you don't care 
about the expense. The harp is shown complete at C. 

How to Play the Harp. — When you have made the 
stand get a pair of old gloves and cut off the fingers; 
powder some rosin and rub it well into the palms of 
the gloves. 

This done, put on the gloves, grip the top of the 
tube and draw your hand slowly down toward the 
sounding board, as shown at C, and a beautiful tone 
will be emitted. Not only does the tube vibrate to 
make the sound but as it is hollow it acts as a resona- 
tor, that is, the sound will set up smypathetic vibra- 
tions in the tube which will reenforce the simple vibra- 
tions of the tube both in strength and quality. 

By waving your finger over the top of the tube 
while you are playing it with the other hand a tremolo 
effect can be produced that is very beautiful and if 
you are versatile you can make it sound almost like a 
human voice. 

The Musical Push Pipe. — How to Make It. — 
This musical instrument is an organ pipe but it is 
played like a slide trombone, that is by pushing in and 
pulling out a slide that fits inside of it. 

Spruce is the best wood to make the organ pipe of 
but you can use any other kind you have at hand. 
Saw off four strips of wood % inch thick and i6 inches 
long and have two of them 3 inches wide and the 
other two 2% inches wide, as shown in Fig. no. Saw 
off one of the 3 inch wide boards so that it will be 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



261 



12% inches long and plane down one end to a sharp 
edge as shown at B. 

Take another board V2 an inch thick and make it 
2/4 inches high and 3 inches wide as shown at D. 
Cut out a board for the end ^ inch thick, 2% inches 
wide and 2V2 inches long and bore a % inch hole in it 
as shown at E. 



fiVi^ 



M 







o 






Fig. 1 10. PARTS OF a musical push pipe 

As you supply this pipe with air by blowing in it, 
take a common thread spool and trim down one end 
of it as shown at F so that you can get it into your 
mouth; then glue the large end over the hole in the 
bottom board. Next glue the sides together to form 
a square tube and make and glue into the lower end a 



262 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

three-cornered piece of wood 2 inches wide, 3 inches 
high and 2% inches thick as shown at G. This will 
bring one of its sharp edges just under and very close 
to the sharp edge of the short side of the pipe. 

Glue the thick piece of wood shown at D to the 
lower end of the pipe so that it leaves a Y^ inch space 
between its top edge and the sharp edge of the short 
side of the pipe. Finally glue the mouthpiece in the 
lower end of the tube and this part of the push pipe is 
done. 

If now you will place your hand over the open top 
of the pipe and blow through the mouthpiece, a soft 
note like that of a steamboat whistle will issue from 
it. To play a tune on the pipe it must have a range 
of an octave but if it will sound an octave and a half 
you can play many of the popular airs on it. 

To do this fit the organ pipe with a movable stop, 
or pushj which slides in and out of the pipe. Make 
this push of two strips of % inch thick wood, 2% 
inches wide and 12 inches long; screw one end of each 
of these boards to a block of wood the size of the 
top of the organ pipe and screw a knob — the head 
of a clothespin will do — on it in the center for a 
handle. The stop, or slide, will of course be open 
on two sides and must slip snugly but easily in the 
pipe. ^ 

To Play the Push Pipe. — If now you will blow 
through the mouthpiece and slide the stop in and out 
various tones and semi-tones will be produced. It takes 
very little practice to learn just where to stop the slide 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 263 

to make a given note — that is if you are at all apt in 
playing musical instruments. A push pipe ^^^ is just 
the thing for a black-face musical act. 




Fig. iioj. how the push pipe is played 

The Curious Xylophone. — How to Make It. — 
This instrument, which is pronounced zil-o-fon^, is 
cheap to make or buy ^^^ and is easy to learn to play. 

To make one cut off fifteen bars of a stick of maple 
Y2 an inch thick, % inch wide and make the longest one 
5 inches. To get the right lengths of all the others 
you will have to saw them off a little at a time and 
try them out for tone, because any variation in thick- 
ness will make a difference in the length of them. 
Hence the above rule-of-thumb method for determin- 
ing the sizes of them. 

Drill a Ke inch hole through both ends of each bar 

106 A push pipe can be bought for $4.00 of the L. E. Knott 
Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass. 

107 Can be bought of any dealer in musical instruments or of 
the L. E. Knott Co., Boston. 



264 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

and string them on a wire to keep them in place. 
Make two rolls of straw % inch in diameter and 20 
inches long; fix the ends of these rolls on a board as 
shown in Fig. iii and lay the maple bars on them 
when they are ready to be played on. 

How to Play the Xylophone, — The xylophone is 
played with a pair of hammers. To make the latter 
cut off two sticks % inch in diameter and 8 inches long ; 
get or turn two wooden balls i inch in diameter ; bore 
a /4 inch hole in each one and glue in one of the 
sticks. 




Fig. III. AN XYLOPHONE. THE BARS ARE MADE OF WOOD 

Take a hammer in each hand and hold it loosely; 
stand over the xylophone so that the sticks of the 
hammers are parallel with and about 6 inches above 
the bars of the xylophone and with the ball ends in 
the middle of the bar it is over. Now pound the bars 
for dear life and the faster the tune the more musical 
it will sound. For this reason pieces like the Circus 
Life Gallop are especially adapted for the xylophone. 

The Peculiar Tubaphone. — How to Make It. — 
By using brass tubes, or better, tubes made of bell 
metal, you can have a xylophone of another order. 
Use tubing % inch in diameter and have the first one 
5 inches long for the fundamental. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 265 

Keep on sawing them off and filing them down un- 
til you have them all done and all in tune. Make a 
wooden frame of ^ inch stuff and have the bottom 2 
inches wide at one end, 4 inches wide at the other end 
and 17 inches long. 




Fig. 112. A TUBAPHONE. THE BARS ARE MADE OF METAL TUBES 

Saw off two strips of wood % an inch thick, i inch 
wide and 17 inches long. Bore fifteen % inch holes 
I inch apart measured from their centers in them; 
glue a strip of felt or thick cloth to the wood in each 
one and slip the tubes in the felt lined holes as shown 
in Fig. 112. 

How to Play the Tubaphone. — To play this peculiar 
instrument use a couple of felt covered mallets; these 
can be made by winding a little ball of string around 
one end of each stick which should be about % inch 
in diameter and 8 inches long, and then covering it 
with felt. Beat the tubes with the felt mallets in 
exactly the same way you do when you play the xylo- 
phone. 

The Cathedral Chimes. — Hozv to Make Them. — 
This is one of the easiest musical instruments to make 
and the music produced by it is impressive in its tone 
and depth. 



266 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



To make it saw off a board, % or % inch thick, 
about 12 inches wide and 22 inches long and screw 
a block I inch square to each corner for it to rest on. 
Get eight bindmg posts ^*^^ of the size shown at A in 
Fig. 113; drill eight Vs inch holes in the board, 4 in a 





B 



Fig. 113. THE CATHEDRAL CHIMES 

A. A full sized binding post. 

B. The chimes on the sounding board. 

row with the holes 5 inches apart and have the rows 
also 5 inches apart, and then screw a binding post into 
each hole. 

Make eight spirals of No. 14 spring brass, steel or, 
better, phosphor-bronze '^^^ wire; you can do this by 

108 These can be bought of the Manhattan Electrical Supply 
Co., Park Place, New York City. 

109 Get it of the U. T. Hungerford Brass and Copper Co., 
Hungerford Building, New York. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 267 

cutting off eight pieces of the wire each of which is 
20 inches long. Draw a spiral on a sheet of paper as 
described in Chapter V so that the inside turn of 
wire is about % inch in diameter, the outside turn 
about 3% inches in diameter and each turn of wire 
will be separated from the other by a space of % inch 
as shown at B. 

With your round nose pliers bend each length of 
wire like the pattern you drew on the paper. When 
you have made the spirals screw the inside end of 
each wire in the binding post and your cathedral 
chimes are done all except the tuning of them. 

Let the first spiral of the upper left hand side give 
the fundamental tone and tune the others to it by cut- 
ting off the free ends of the wires until they are all 
tuned in unison. Make a couple of wood mallets and 
cover the ends with leather or rawhide. 

How to Play the Cathedral Chimes. — Strike the in- 
side turn of wire up close to the end that is fastened 
to the binding post, and a tone will issue from the 
spiral that is long, deep and loud, for the wire with 
its free end forms a very perfect vibrating body. 

The -ffiolian Yidivp.— How to Make /^— This 
harp is of very ancient origin and it gets its name 
from ^olus who, in classic mythology, was the father 
of the winds, and very appropriately is it named, too, 
for it is the wind that plays it. 

Make a box of % inch thick wood, 2 inches deep, 
5 inches wide and 3 feet long; use clear pine, or deal 
will do, for the sides of it but the ends should be of 



268 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



beech to hold the timing pins and the hitch pins. Cut 
a sound hole 3 inches in diameter near both ends of the 
board which is to be used for the top; then glue the 
box together and screw up the ends with your wood 
clamps to hold it together tight while it is drying. 




Fig. 114. THE HARP OF AEOLUS 

When it is thoroughly dry, drill a dozen % inch 
peg holes % inch deep in one end, six in a row as 
shown at A in Fig. 114. Make a dozen pegs to fit 
the holes and these should have wings on them as 
shown at B like violin pegs. Each peg should be 
about 1V2 inches long and each one should have a %2 
inch hole drilled near the top of the shank for the end 
of the string to pass through. The hitch pins can be 
brass brads driven into the other end of the box and in 
a line with the holes, all of which is shown at A. 

Make two bridges of hard wood % inch thick; have 
each one i inch high and 5 inches wide and with 12 
notches cut in one side. Now get a dozen catgut 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 269 

strings of different thicknesses and put them on the 
sounding board; to do this twist a loop on the end 
of each one; thread the other end through the hole 
in the peg and tighten it up a little. 

When you have all of the strings in place set a 
bridge under each end and then tune the strings in 
unison, but don't stretch the strings on very tight or 
the wind won't make them vibrate. This done, cut 
out another % inch thick pine board and glue a block 
% inch square and i^ inches long to each corner and 
set it on top of the harp. The purpose of this cover 
is to make the wind blow with as much force as pos- 
sible over the strings. 

How the Wind Plays It, — To the end that old 
^olus may play the harp to the best of his ability set 
it on the sill of an open window so that the wind 
strikes the strings at a slant. Pull the window down 
on the harp in order to make all of the wind pass be- 
tween the cover and the strings. 

When the wind blows softly beautiful tones will be 
emitted and when the wind blows hard discords will 
be produced but as the wind subsides exquisite har- 
monies will again prevail. 

An Egyptian Fiddle. — How) to Make It. — The 
early Egyptians invented the fiddle, or rehah as they 
called it, but they did not play it with a bow. Later 
in medieval times, that is in about the 9th century, 
this fiddle. came to be called a rehec and it was then 
played with a bow. I'll bet though that the fiddle I 
shall tell you how to make and play sounds better 



270 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

than any Egyptian rebab ever made — though it is 
not exactly a Stradivariiis}'^^ 

To make a fiddle of this kind — it only has one 
string and only one is needed by a master violinist — 
make a sounding box of Vs or %6 inch thick wood 
except the ends which should be of % inch thick stuff; 
this box should be 4 inches high, 6 inches wide at one 
end, 8 inches wide at the other end and 12 inches 
long. Cut a hole 6 inches in diameter in the center 
of the board which you are going to use for the sound- 
ing hoard J and then glue all of the pieces together 
using wood clamps to hold them tight. 

For the neck take a stick of wood 1V2 inches wide, 
2/4 inches thick and 15 inches long; cut it down until 
one end is i inch thick and cut a piece out of this end 
% inch wide and i inch deep; bore a conical hole 
through this end and fit in a peg. Next saw out the 
other end 2 inches deep for a length of 3 inches back 
and glue and screw this end of the neck to the narrow 
end of the box. The shape of the neck with the peg 
in it and the way it is fixed to the sounding box is 
clearly shown in the top view A and the side view B 
in Fig. 115. 

Cut out a bridge of a piece of hard wood % inch 
thick, I inch high and i Y2 inches long as shown at C ; 
and, finally, make a tail-piece of a bit of hard wood 
% inch thick % an inch wide at one end, i inch wide 

110 The priceless fiddles made by the famous old violin maker 
Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy, in the early part of the 
17th century. • 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



271 



at the other end and 2 inches long. Drill a hole in 
each end and whittle or plane the large end to a sharp 
edge. 

In the middle of the large end of the sounding box 
bore a "S^ inch hole and glue in a hard wood peg for 
a hitch-pin. Fasten the tail-piece to the hitch-pin with 
a piece of catgut string. Slip the end of an A violin 
string through the hole in the sharp end of the tail- 



Cd 



SOUNDING BOX 




TUNING 
PIN 



Fig. 115. PLANS FOR AN EGYPTIAN FIDDLE 



piece; knot it to keep it from pulling through, and 
bring the other end up and thread it through the hole 
in the peg in the neck. Finally put the bridge under 
the string and tighten it up. Tune it to the treble, or 
G clef, if you know enough about music to do it, or if 
not tune it so that it gives a pleasing tone. 

How to Make the Bow. — The best kind of wood 
to make a violin bow of is Brazilian lance-wood or of 



272 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

snake-wood, but for this one stringed fiddle of yours 
you can use a piece of beech. 

Take a strip of wood Y2 an inch thick, i inch wide 
and 24 inches long and saw it out as shown at D ; then 
round up the stick and sandpaper it smooth. Cut out 
two blocks to fit the ends, or frogs as they are called: 
drill a hole in each one and screw it to the bow but 
not very tight. 



. < < I J — 



y^' ^ - — '^}^ — . 






zr ^ 

Fig. 115D, HOW the bow is made 

Now comes the hard part and that is putting on the 
hairs; get 50 or 60 white horsehairs about 2 feet long; 
I do not advise pulling them out of Dohhin's tail but 
rather to buy a bunch of them from Sears, Roebuck, 
and Co., Chicago, 111., for 10 or 20 cents. 

Having got them somehow put one end of each one 
under one of the blocks and when you have them all 
even and close together screw the block down tight; 
this done fasten the other ends of the hairs under the 
opposite block, and when you have them all drawn taut 
screw down the block and put a little glue on the places 
where they go under the blocks. 

If you will look at a horsehair through a micro- 
scope you will see that it seems very like the scroll saw 
blade I told you about in the second chapter, that is, 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 



273 



it has a lot of fine teeth on it and all of them run the 
same way. By rights then half of the hairs ought to 
be put on the bow with the teeth running in one direc- 
tion and the other half with the teeth running in the 
other direction so that the friction of the hairs is the 
same on the string on the up and the down strokes. 




Fig. 115E. HOW the fiddle is played 

Do not use much rosin on the bow but rosin it often. 
You can buy a piece of regular violin bow rosin for 
5 cents but the kind that gives the best results is the 
genuine Bernardel imported from France and which 
costs about a quarter. It bites hard on the string 
and makes a large volume of sound. The way the 
fiddle is played is shown at E. 



CHAPTER XII 
SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 

There is a feature of home life that the heads of 
too many famiHes overlook and that is getting together 
and having an evening of entertainment which the 
youngest as well as the oldest member can enjoy. 

This is not at all a hard thing to do but as it takes 
time to get the props together to give it with — which 
neither your father or mother can well spare even if 
they had the inclination — it is up to you as the boy 
of the family to see that it is done. 

It is a noble plan to give a divertisement, or 
soiree ^^^ (pronounced swa're) as the old time magi- 
cians used to call it, once every month and you will 
find after you have given the first one that all of your 
folks will look forward to the coming of the next one 
with interest and with pleasure. 

Moreover, you should let them know what the next 
divertisement is to be a couple of weeks before it 
comes off and then let all hands join in and talk about 
it whenever the spirit moves them. Naturally since 
you know all about it and they don't know anything 

1" This is a French word and it means an evening social 
gathering. 

274 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 275 

about it, questions will be in order and you are the 
one who will have to answer them; and don't try to 
make a secret of anything you have done or are going 
to do unless it is magic or some allied subject of 
mystery. After the divertisement is over it will fur- 
nish food for conversation for a long time to come. 

Now while I have used the words entertainment and 
divertisement, both of which mean about the same 
thing and that is amusement, and while you should 
always strive to make your talks as light and recrea- 
tional as you can you do not need to stick to frothy 
subjects altogether but instead you should alternate 
them with scientific demonstrations. In this way you 
will not only please and develop good fellowship in 
the family, but you will instruct the members of it at 
the same time. 

Finally, don't make your divertisements too long. 
Better by all means make each one only 15 or 20 min- 
utes long and have everybody in high good humor 
and saying that it was all too short, than to give them 
an hour and have everybody gappy and bored half-to- 
death. 

Cartoons While You Wait. — This is a good fea- 
ture to start off your season's divertisements with. 
Make a substantial easel on which to set a large draw- 
ing board as shown in Fig. 116, or you can fasten the 
paper to a wall with thumb tacks if you live in a home 
and not in a residence. 

Get a dozen sheets of good white print paper — you 
can buy a quire (24 sheets) 24x36 inches for 25 



276 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



cents — and tack % a dozen sheets to your drawing 
board or the wall. Also buy a stick of black marking 
crayon,^^^ which is better than chalk or charcoal for 
it makes a heavy black line that will not smut, blur 
or rub off. 




Fig. 116. HOW an easel is made 



Drawing the Cartoons. — Start in with your crayon 
in hand and explain that what you propose to do is to 
show the principles upon which free-hand drawing is 
based. Then make a simple line drawing of the boxer 

112 You can buy a marking crayon at a hardware or stationery 
store. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 277 

reaching for the maxillary of his invisible opponent 
as shown in Fig. 42, over in the chapter called Drazv- 
ing Simply Explained, and then draw the horse gal- 
loping home on the three-quarter stretch. 

Next draw around these simple line figures, which 
are really the skeletons of the man and beast, the out- 
lines as shown in Fig. 43. If you are not expert in 
free hand drawing you can trace these figures on the 
paper in faint lines with a lead-pencil before you be- 
gin your performance, and then all you have to do is 
to mark over the lines with the crayon. 

After you have made these drawings and explained 
all about them tear ofif the sheet and on the clean one 
draw the outline of a man as shown in Fig. 44 and 
mark on the proportions of the human body. Have 
your next sheet ruled off into squares with the lines 
2 inches apart ; draw in the face and at the same time 
explain that this makes it easy for any one to get the 
features in proportion. 

Now comes the grand finale ^^^ (pronounced 
•fi-na^ le) and that is your cartoons}^'^ You should 
practice drawing these and also have some patter '^'^^ 
about each one so that when you do them for the 
family audience your tongue will be as clever as your 
fingers. You can begin by explaining how the expres- 

11* The last part of an exhibition and it is generally the climax 
of it. 

11* A cartoon is usually a caricature of a person or thing done 
in sketchy style. The word comes from the French carton, 
which means pasteboard. 

115 Witty or amusing talk to help along the act. 



278 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

sions of one's face — that is the way the features look 
when the mind is at rest or is excited — can all be 
represented by a few very simple lines. 

Draw eight circles 5 or 6 inches in diameter in a 
double row on the paper with your marking crayon 
as shown at A in Fig. 117. Now you say first that 
sleep can be represented by four straight horizontal 
lines and you draw them as shown in the first circle. 

F/fsrmLEEP WDEMme some joy more sorrow 







QUITE MODEST MUCH DISDAIN SOMEY^H/IT /J LITTLE 
y^ SURPRISEP /?NORY 

Fig. II7A. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF CARTOONING 

Next draw four vertical lines in the second circle and 
before you can say awake your little audience will see 
it and laugh its approval. 

Joy is represented by four little arcs, or curved 
lines with the ends of each pointing up, which you 
draw in the third circle, while sorrozv is, of course, 
shown by four curved lines the ends of which point 
down as in the fourth circle, since the emotion of sor- 
row is the opposite to that of joy. 

Show how modesty is depicted by drawing four lit- 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 279 

tie angles in the fifth circle with the vertex, or point 
of each one at the bottom, while disdain, which is the 
reciprocal of modesty, can be illustrated in the sixth 
circle by reversing the positions of the angles and hav- 
ing their vertices at the top. 

To portray surprise all you have to do is to draw 
four little circles inside the seventh large circle and 
you will have caught the expression. Finally In the 




BYDEUGHT 
OP DE S/LV£/^Y 
nOON Q 




P/JTmO HE HAS- 
H/SPO/PE JUSTHEmO 
C ^ JOKEf) 



Fig. 117 B, C, D. THREE SIMPLE CARTOONS THAT YOU CAN DO 

eighth circle draw two slanting lines for the eyes, a 
vertical line for the nose and an angle with the ends of 
the lines pointed down and you will have a very good 
representation of anger, (or maybe it's a Chinaman.) 

Now without my telling you how to draw the car- 
toons shown at B C and D in Fig. 117, draw each one 
of them half a dozen times on a sheet of paper with 
your marking crayon and when you get before your 



28o HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

audience you will be able to do them like a lightning 
crayon artist. 

Thirty Minutes of Chemistry. — Here are some 
very pretty and easily made experiments in chemistry 
and as you perform them you can give the explanation 
I have written about each one which will serve as the 
patter. 

The Mystic Glass of Milk.— 7/i^ Effect.— Yon 
show a glass of perfectly clean water and blow through 





Ci e/p^ \g- 'M^ci ouDY 



BEFORE BLOWING /fFTER BLOW/NG 
THROUGH STR/^W THROUGH STR/JW 

Fig. ii8. the oracle of amor, or are you in love? 



it with a glass tube, clay pipe or a straw when it be- 
comes to all intents, though not to all purposes, milk 
of the cow variety. See Fig. ii8. 

The Cause. — To perform this chemical trick get 50 
grams of good quicklime and powder it in a pint milk 
bottle. Let it stand for 24 hours and shake it every 
once in a while. Let it stand another 24 hours and 
then pour off the clear solution, which is called lime 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 281 

water ^^^ and this is the common name of mystic 

milk. 

The Chemical Action. — In the first place the hme 
in the water is calcium hydroxide and when you blow 
through the lime water the carbon dioxide in your 
breath acts on the calcium hydroxide and forms a 
white insoluble powder commonly known as limestone. 

Since the calcium carbonate does not dissolve in the 
water it remains suspended in the solution and this 
gives it an opalescent hue that doth verily look like 
the lactic fluid which is white but woe unto the milk- 
man who sells it as such. 

For the Fun of the Thing. — By pretending you can 
tell which boys and which girls are in love hand around 
several glasses of ordinary water and as many of clear 
lime water. You must see to it, of course, that those 
whom you want to make believe are in love are given 
the lime water; then have everybody blow and it is a 
sure sign that those who change the water into milk 
are in love. 

The Magic Fountain.— The Effect. — You show 
an empty bottle, or Florence flask, and then push a 
cork with two holes in it into the mouth of the bottle. 
Next push a glass tube having a nozzle on one end 
through one of the holes in the cork until the nozzle 
nearly touches the bottom of the bottle. 

Through the other hole in the cork push a medicine 
dropper, or fountain pen filler. The end of the long 
tube project's down into a bowl containing water which 

116 You can buy it in a drug store already to use. 



282 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



you have colored blue ^^'^ either with indigo or with 
copper sulphate or you can make a beautiful violet by 
dissolving in it a little potassium permanganate. The 
arrangement of the apparatus is shown at A in Fig. 
119. 



FJU7SK 




GL/7SS TUBE 
WITH NOZZLE 



TWO HOLE 
'RUBBER STOPPER 



. NEP/C/NE 
PROPPER 



GLfiSSDISH 



Fig. II9A. THE MYSTIC FOUNTAIN 

Now when you squeeze the bulb of the medicine 
dropper the colored water rushes up the tube and 
squirts out of the nozzle into a pretty fountain until 
the flask is nearly full. 

The Cause. — Instead of the bottle being empty as 

117 Any kind of colored water will do for this experiment. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 283 

it looks to be, you have previously filled it with 
hydrogen chloride gas of which 500 volumes will dis- 
solve in I volume of water. 

The medicine dropper is filled with water and when 
you squeezed it a few drops of water is forced into 
the bottle and dissolves a large part of the gas that 
is in it. This leaves a vacuum when, of course, the 
atmospheric pressure on the colored water in the bowl 
forces it up through the nozzle to fill the vacuum. 



FumSL 



suLPw/^/c 

/7C/0 

rwowLB 

RUBBER. 
STOPPER 



Borri^- 



RU8B6R CONN EC n ON 
TtuBE XtrOEUVERYTUBE 




FLORENCE 

FL/fSK 
HYDROGEN 
CHLORIDE C/PS 



Fig. II9B. MAKING HYDROGEN CHLORIDE GAS 

This water dissolves the rest of the gas in the flask 
and more water is forced up until the bottle is nearly 
full of it, all of which produces a very mysterious and 
at the same time a mighty pretty efTect. 

How to Make Hydrogen Chloride Gas. — To make 
this gas take another bottle and fit a two hole stopper 
into it; in one hole put a funnel and in the other an 
L tube as shown at B 119. 

In the bottom of the bottle put H of a cup of com- 



284 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

mon table salt ; put a straight tube down into the Flor- 
ence flask you want to fill and connect this tube and the 
L tube with a piece of rubber tube as is also shown 
atB. 

The apparatus set up, pour sulphuric acid down the 
funnel, a very little at a time until the salt is all gone 
and then fit the cork with the long nozzle tube and the 
medicine dropper in it, into the mouth of the bottle 
filled with the hydrogen chloride gas. 

The Vicious Soap Bubbles. — The Effect. — Show 
a dish of soap-suds and then blow bubbles with the 
apparatus described below. 

When the bubbles take on a size of about 3 inches 
in diameter shake them off and they will rise slowly 
and gracefully in the air. Before they get out of 
reach touch them with a long lighted taper and they 
will explode viciously with a sharp report like that 
made by a revolver. 

The Cause. — The bubbles are filled with a mixture 
of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas and when these two 
gases are simply mixed they form a very explosive 
compound which is called detonating gas. 

When the flame is brought close enough to the 
bubble it fires the gases in it, and they explode and 
combine chemically to form zvater. The apparatus 
necessary to do this experiment with is shown in Fig. 
120. 

It consists of (i) a hydrogen gas generator and 
(2) an oxygen gas generator. 

The hydrogen bottle or flask is fitted with a two 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 285 

hole stopper through which runs a glass funnel and 
an L tube just as described in the fountain experiment 
and shown at B in Fig. 119. Connected to the L tube 
is a length of rubber tubing into the other end of which 
another L tube is fitted. 

The oxygen bottle or flask is fitted with a single 
hole stopper which has an L tube running through it 
as shown at B in Fig. 119. Connected to the L tube is 
fi^xed another length of rubber tubing and in the free 

OXYGEN ^_^_LTUBE .\ /.S' 

.BERTUBE \ 

RUBBER ^BUNSEN \\ -^ 

^DROGEN K^^ ^BURNER \ W/fX7^R^ 

GENER/JTOR 



o 




iri/BESCEME/^T- 
EDW/mSEW/YCmy 



^DISHOF 
SOAPSUDS 

Fig. 120. THE VICIOUS soap bubbles 

end of this is fixed another and shorter L tube. Now 
place the two short L tubes side by side and cement 
them together with sealing wax. A long length of 
rubber tube is forced on over the ends of the double 
tube and, finally, a clay pipe is fitted into the free end 
of the rubber tube, all of which is shown in Fig. 120. 
Set the bottles or flasks as far apart as possible and 
in the hydrogen bottle put a handful of granulated 



286 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

zinc. Dilute hydrochloric acid ^^^ is poured down 
the funnel on the zinc when hydrogen will be set free, 
or generated as it is called. 

Put a small handful of a mixture of 2 parts of 
potassium chlorate and i part of manganese dioxide, 
finely powdered, in the oxygen bottle and then set a 
Bunsen burner under it when it will give off oxygen. 
When the two gases leave the short L tubes they mix 
in the long rubber tube and by the time they reach the 
clay pipe you will have detonating gas all right. 

Caution. — Do not bring a flame anywhere near the 
apparatus and as a further precaution wrap a thick 
towel around the hydrogen flask. 

The bubbles that are blown rise in the air because 
both the hydrogen and the oxygen are lighter than the 
air. 

The Uncanny Wheel. — The Effect. — A pitcher 
is shown full of emptiness and then a cardboard wheel, 
4 inches in diameter, with buckets, or cones i inch high 
and % inch across glued to the rim and which is 
mounted on a wire so that it can be revolved, is passed 
for examination. 

Placing the wheel on the table you hold the empty 
pitcher above it and pour out nothing on it when the 
wheel will turn round just as though you were pouring 
water on it. It is indeed uncanny. The idea is shown 
at A in Fig. 121. 

The Cause. — But it is all canny enough when you 

11^ If you want to buy dilute hydrochloric acid ask for normal 
hydrochloric acid. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 287 



know how it is done. While the pitcher is apparently 
empty you have, forsooth, previously filled it with a 
gas called carbon dioxide. This gas is 1% times as 
heavy as air. 

The cardboard wheel does not move in the air be- 
cause the latter pushes on all parts of it equally. 
When, however, you pour the carbon dioxide gas on 



CU' 



C/}RDBO/}RD 
WHEEL 



PiTCHEfi 



P/JPER 
BUCKETS, 




FL/JSK, 



/1IXTURE0F 
SUPRIC OXIDE 
/JND C/fPBON 




DELIVERY 
TUBE 



6UNSEN BURNER 
8 



PITCHER 



•^^ HOWTHEUNC/INNY 
WHEEL IS M/POE 

Fig. 121. THE UNCANNY WHEEL 

it from the pitcher, since it (the gas) is heavier than 
the air it fills the little buckets and makes them 
heavier just as surely as if you poured water on them; 
and hence the wheel revolves. 

How to Make Carbon Dioxide Gas. — Take a per- 
fectly dry bottle or flask of the kind shown in the 
fountain experiment; fit it with a single hole stopper 
and push a glass tube through it until it nearly touches 
the bottom as pictured at B. 



288 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Set the bottle at a slant and put a mixture in it of 
equal amounts of powdered copper oxide (that is 
cupric oxide) and wood charcoal. Heat this mixture 
over a Bunsen burner until it glows and for a few 
minutes longer; the bottle will then be full of the 
carbon dioxide gas. 

Pour it into a glass pitcher and put a sheet of glass 
over it to keep the air away from it until you are 
ready to perform the uncanny experiment. 

Giving a Travelogue. — A travelogue is simply a 
talk on travel, or on a country, illustrated with pictures 
of some kind. 

To be able to give a travel talk does not mean nec- 
essarily that you must have traveled or been in the 
country you are going to tell about but if you have 
done neither, it does mean that you must read up 
on it. 

To do this get several good books on whatever 
country you intend to talk on, read them carefully, 
and then outline a route just as though you had gone 
over it yourself, but this must of course conform to 
the pictures you can get. 

Now there are four methods you can follow to 
show a series of pictures and you can make your 
choice according to the amount of money you want to 
invest in it 

(i) The first and least expensive way is to cut a 
dozen or twenty pictures out of magazines, arrange 
them according to your route and build up your talk 
around them. As you describe each place pass the 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 289 

pictures, which should be mounted on cardboard, in 
turn to each person present. 

(2) A better way is to get a set of stereographs of 
the trip or the country you are to talk on and a 
stereoscope ^^^ and pass the picture showing the view 
and the instrument to each person present. 

Each stereograph, as the picture is called, is formed 
of two pictures of the same scene made from slightly 
different viewpoints and when the observer looks 
through the lenses at them they blend into one image 
when the scene stands out wonderfully clear and ap- 
parently in three dimensions. The only drawback of 
the stereoscope as an aid to a travel talk is that only 
one person can look at a picture at a time. 

(3) A far better plan than either of the above 
schemes is to make a reflectoscope ^^^ as described in 
the chapter called Some Kinks in Photography. You 
can show any kind of a picture in a reflectoscope if it is 
not larger than 3x5 inches but picture postcards are 
especially good to use for a travelogue or a talk of 
any kind and they show up nicely when thrown on a 
screen with a reflectoscope. 

(4) Finally either make, or better, if you can afford 
it, buy, a magic lantern ^^^ that will take the regular 

119 A stereoscope and the stereograms can be bought from 
Underwood and Underwood, 417 Fifth Ave., New York, or Sears, 
Roebuck and Co., Chicago, 111. 

120 You can buy one of the Busch and Lomb Optical Company, 
Rochester, New York, and you can get post-card views for it 
of the Post-Card Store, 946 Broadway, New York. 

121 For magic lanterns and slides address the Charles Beseler 
Co., 131 East 23rd Street, New York. 



290 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

full size lantern slides, namely, 3% x 4% inches square. 
Sets of lantern slides ^^^ for travelogues or talks on 
any subject can be rented cheaply and in these days of 
cheap electricity you can throw a picture on the screen 
so big and bright and real that your offering is bound 
to be a success. 

An Electrical Soiree. — Experiments in electricity 
are always interesting to all however young or old, 
for of all the powers that have been harnessed by man 
it is the least tangible and yet the effects produced by 
it are the most spectacular. 

Now there are some very extraordinary effects that 
you can show with static electricity ^^^ which do not 
require apparatus of any kind as you will presently 
see, but if you will make or buy a /'^ inch induction 
coil ^^* you can perform a series of classic experi- 
ments that will create a profound and lasting impres- 
sion on all who see them. 

Demonstrating Electricity Without Apparatus. 
— Did you ever rub a cat in a dark room in the winter 
and see the sparks fly ? Well this is one way to make 
electricity without apparatus though you need a cat ^^^ 
to do it with. 

The Electrified Papers, — But you can make a lot 

122 Sets of lantern slides can be rented of the Charles Beseler 
Co., 131 East 23rd Street, New York City. 

123 Many experiments with static electricity will be found in 
The Book of Electricity by the present author and published by 
D. Appleton and Co. 

124 Complete instructions for making an induction coil will also 
be found in The Book of Electricity. 

125 A cat is not apparatus but only a kitten growed up. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 291 

of electricity by simply rubbing a newspaper if you 
know how to rub it and it is perfectly dry.^^e 

Tear off a strip of newspaper, lay it flat on a table 
and rub it with your finger nails as shown at A in Fig. 
122. When you try to take the paper from the table 

y?' ELECTRIFYING /? STRIP 
OF NEWSP/9PER 






B' ELECTRIC /?TTR/^Cr/0/V 

Fig. 122. THE ELECTRIFIED PAPER 

you will find that it sticks to it quite tenaciously. This 
is because you have positively electrified the paper 
when you rubbed it and the surface of the table under 
it is negatively electrified by induction.^^'^ Now since 
positive and negative electricity attract each other, the 
paper and the table are pulled together. 

126 Winter is the best time to do experiments in static elec- 
tricity, 

127 The theory of induction is simply explained in The Book of 
Electricity by the present author. 



292 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

How to Electrify a Person }^^ — This is an experi- 
ment that will make your gathering giggle just as 
school girls giggle when they have their tintypes taken 
— that is without any real reason except that the idea 
strikes their mental funny bones. 

To perform this experiment electrify a strip of news- 
paper as above and then hold it close to some one's 
face; instantly there will be a mutual attraction be- 
tween them and the paper will be drawn to and stick 
to his or her cheek. Put an electrified paper on the 
cheek of each person present as shown at B and tell 
them they belong to the same club. This will get a 
laugh but it will not lessen their interest in the ex- 
periment in the least. 

How Like Repels Like. — Electrify two strips of 
newspaper this time and hold them together by the 
ends. Instantly the free ends of the papers will fly 
apart for like signs of electricity repel each other. 

That is, since both strips of paper are positively 
electrified and hence are of like signs, they repel each 
other. If they were negatively electrified they would 
repel each other just the same. In either case it shows 
that there is a force acting across the space between 
the two strips of paper. 

Making Experiments With Apparatus. — With a 
dry battery of two or three cells, an electric bell, a 
common steel magnet and an electromagnet, all of 

128 Since the paper is positively electrified the person must be 
•negatively electrified. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 293 

which you can easily make or buy ^^^ for a dollar or 
so, you can provide entertainment enough for % an 
hour's demonstration, and food for thought to last a 
year. 

The Induction, or Spark Coil. — An induction coil 
is an apparatus for changing a direct low pressure, 
but large quantity current from a battery into an 
alternating high pressure but small quantity current, 
which is called high tension, or high potential, electric- 
ity. 

With an induction coil you can make any number 
of wonderful experiments such as miniature streaks of 
lightning, lighting up Geissler tubes, which produce 
brilliant and beautiful colors showing the electric dis- 
charge in gases, etc., etc. By fixing these tubes to a 
small electric motor ^^^ so that they can be revolved 
while the high tension current is passing through 
them, the eflfects are further heightened. 

Demonstrating Wireless Telegraphy. — All you have 
to do to make your induction coil into a wireless trans- 
mitter, that is, the sending apparatus, is to put a couple 
of brass balls on the points of the spark-gap, fasten a 
wire to one of them and the other end to a nail in the 
wall near the ceiling and then connect the other one 
with a wire which ends in a small sheet of brass or 

129 The L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass., and The 
Manhattan Electric Co., Park Row, New York, sell all these 
things. 

130 A small electric motor can be bought for $i.oo of any dealer 
in electrical supplies or of the Manhattan Electrical Supply Co., 
Park Row, New York. 



294 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



copper that rests on the floor as shown at A in Fig. 
123. 

To make a receiver that will tap out the signals you 
send on your transmitter, you will need (a) a coherer, 
(b) a relay, (c) an electric hell and (d) a dry cell. 
You can make the coherer but the other three pieces 
of the apparatus you had better buy. 



& 



M£T/fl PLmE 



■WIRE 

3P/fRK G/IP 




INDUCT/ON 
CO/L 




MEr/lLPLff7t\ 
v^UYING 
1 I ONFLOOR. 



^REL/)Y 



0: c 

B/1TTER.Y 



B/rriERY 
THE TRANSMITTER 

Fig. 123. A SIMPLE WIRELESS DEMONSTRATION SET 



4 



For the coherer cut off a piece of brass rod % inch 
in diameter and 1% inches long, file the ends off even 
and slip them through the holes in the binding post. 
Put a pinch of nickel and silver filings into a piece of 
glass tubing about an inch long and push the ends of 
the rod into the tube with the filings between them. 

Screw the rods into a couple of binding posts set 2 
inches apart on a block as shown at B and your coherer 
is done. 

Connect up the coherer, relay, tapper and dry cell 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 295 

on a board as shown in the wiring diagram at C; 
fasten a wire to one of the rods of the coherer and to 
a nail near the ceiHng; fix a wire to the other coherer 
rod and to a small sheet of brass or copper which rests 
on the floor. 

B 

PLUG ^ C^^^ DkP'-'^^ 
to /)£R//JL J^FiL I NO 5 _R— TOORQUf^D 




TOORYCELL TO/$EL/fY 

Fig. 123B. CROSS section of the coherer showing its 

CONSTRUCTION 

Now when you press the key or button of the sender, 
which is on one side of the room, the bell of the re- 
ceiver, which is on the opposite side of the room, will 
ring out a signal. The fact that there are no wires 
connecting the sender with the receiver will create 
much wonder. 

The theory of wireless telegraphy is rather deep but 
you will find it simply explained in my Book of Wire- 
less published by D. Appleton and Co., New York 
City. 

Reading Palms for Fun. — Many years ago when 
P. T. Barnum was exhibiting a sacred white elephant, 
which was nothing more nor less than a small Indian 
elephant covered with whitewash, and the good folks 
were breaking their necks to pay their hard-earned 
coin to see it, the great showman remarked that " the 
American people love to be humbugged." And they 



296 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



do. Now palmistry is a kind of mild humbuggery on 
a small scale and for an evening of fun and bunkum- 
squint you can't find anything to beat it. 

First of all there are three words that are con- 




WO£S 



'^ro^s' 



THBN/JR 
OR 




Fig. I24A. the parts of the hand named according to 

SCIENCE 

stantly used in the art which you must know how to 
pronounce correctly or you will surely show your 
ignorance. The first is palm, pronounced pom; the 
second is palmist, pronounced poV-mist, and the third 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 297 



is palmistry, which is pronounced poV -mis-try ; now 
be sure to say them right. 

While nearly every one believes in palmistry there 
is nothing in it in-so-far as it is possible to read a per- 

muNrs 



^ 



i> 






k\ 3 lii 






K 



LINEflCi 



^ 
^ 









^ 



m 



B 



Fig. I24B. THE PARTS OF THE HAND NAMED ACCORDING TO PALMISTRY 

son's character or to divine one's future by means of 
it; but there are some things you can tell from the 
hand you afe reading and these are if its owner is or 
is not in good health and whether the brain that goes 



298 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

with it is mechanically inclined or is of an artistic tem- 
perament. 

Further you can gather — not from the hand but 
from the face, stature, carriage, and mannerisms of the 
boy or girl or the man or woman whose hand you are 
supposed to be reading — a good deal about his or her 
temper and temperament and also about her or his 
foibles and peculiarities. In fact the palmistry of the 
palmists is simply a study in deduction, very much a la 
Sherlock Holmes, of the person as a whole, and it is by 
no means limited to an investigation of the hand alone. 

How to Read Palms. — There are two things which 
you should learn before you begin to read palms and 
these are (i) the names of the different parts of the 
hand, and (2) the lines and mounts of the hand. 

The names given and the corresponding parts of 
the human hand are shown at A in Fig 1 24 ; these are 
the scientific names and you will add very greatly to 
your stock of knowledge to get them down by heart. 

The names of the lines and the mounts of the hand 
are given and shown at B and these are the terms that 
are used by palmists. You will observe that the 
eminences are called mounts and these are named after 
the planets of the solar system, for the ancients sup- 
posed that they were inter-related. To get by as a 
palmist it goes without saying that you must have 
these all down pat. 

To find out what kind of health the subject is in, 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 299 

grip the hypofhenar eminence, which is the side of the 
hand opposite the polluXj or thumb, between your 
thumb and fingers and squeeze it a Httle; if it is per- 
fectly firm and the pahn has a good heaUhy color you 
are quite sure that its owner is in good health, but if 
the flesh is soft and is not elastic and if the palm is 
pale and bloodless you will be quite right in saying 
that the subject's health is not good, nay worse, it is 
even bad, and you will not offend your subject by 
so saying. 

The length of the life line is supposed to determine 
how long the subject who owns it will live but even if 
you find one broken off short never tell the person that 
he or she will live only a short time. Indeed to be a 
successful palmist tell every one whose hand you read 
that she or he will live to be anywhere from 80 to 
108, and you'll be on the safe side. 

The line of the heart, according to palmistry, in- 
dicates the affections and passions of a person. Al- 
ways tell a fellow that he is a great lover and that 
he is constant, but you can say to a girl that she is 
capricious, which means about the same thing as being 
fickle, and both the man and the maid will be highly 
pleased. The line of Saturn is the line of disposition 
and you must always make the subject just as sweet 
and angelic as possible unless you want her to break 
up the seance ^^- then and there and hold a wake to 
prove you're right. 

132 A sitting given by a medium or a palmist is called a seance 
(pronounced say'ance). 



300 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

Apollo, as the line of fortune is called, is a good one 
to talk at length on; you can tell every subject that he 
or she has had had luck, but that fortune will follow; 
that he or she will marry a pretty girl, or a handsome 
man as the case may be, live in New York if already 
living in the country and the other way about — for 
everybody wants to live anywhere except the place 
he is in — and don't forget to say " you'll live happily 
ever after." 

Since folks will foolishly believe in palmistry don't 
try to convince them to the contrary, but while there is 
nothing in it, when you play palmist tell them only 
the nice, pleasant things and you will then be doing 
them a real service. 

Just two more pointers on the ignoble art of palm- 
istry and these are (i) read the palms of each one 
present right out loud before the whole gathering, and 
(2) be mighty careful that the single girls and married 
ladies do not snitch rings and so lead you into the trap 
of thinking that the former are enjoying a state of 
connubial felicity (whatever state ^'^^ that may be) and 
that the latter are living in a territory ^^^ of single 
blessedness. 

A Talk on the Steam Engine. — For your final 
evening entertainment give a thumb-nail lecture on 
steam and the steam-engine. 

You will find every one is interested in steam be- 
cause it is one of the great prime movers but there are 

133 Probably Utah. 

134 Most likely Arizona. 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 301 

very few people indeed who have any idea of how a 

steam engine works. 

If you will do exactly as I tell you, you can talk on 
and demonstrate the principles of a steam engine so 
that, whatever the age of your listeners, they will 
know, when you are through, exactly how and why a 
steam engine runs and develops power. 

Making the Model Engine. — The engine I shall tell 
you how to build is not a model that runs by steam,^^^ 
but one made almost entirely of wood and the purpose 
of it is not actually to produce power but to show ex- 
actly how it works. 

To the end that this may be done the cylinder and 
steam chest are split-down the middle lengthwise so 
that the inside of them can be clearly seen and the 
movements and functions of the piston and the slide 
valve in these parts will be clear. • 

Make the cylinder first and the easiest way to do 
it is to saw out two disks of wood for the cylinder 
heads of 94 inch thick stuff, 4% inches in diameter and 
bore a /^e inch hole through the center of one of them 
for the piston to slide through, as shown at A, C and 
F in Fig. 125. Turn, or whittle out a piece of wood 
for the stuffing hox,'^^^ i inch in diameter and V^ inch 
long, and bore a %6 inch hole through the center of it 

1"-^ How to build model steam engines and all other kinds is 
explained in my new book Engine Building for Boys, published 
by Small, Maynard and Co., Boston, Mass. 

136 A stuffing" box on a real steam engine is to keep the steam 
in the cylinder and steam chest from leaking past the piston rod 
and the slide valve rod. 




302 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 303 

and glue it to the center of the cyhnder head so that 
the holes are exactly in a line as shown at A and F. 

Next saw out two rings of % inch thick wood, make 
the outside 4% inches in diameter and the inside 3 
inches in diameter, see C, and glue one of the rings 
to each end of the cylinder heads. Now cut out of a 
sheet of thin cardboard, or better of tin, a piece 5% 
inches wide and 6 inches long ; cut two holes V2 an inch 
in diameter and have the center of each hole % an inch 
from one of the long edges and % inch from each of 
the short edges as shown at D. 

The next thing on the list is the piston and the 
piston rod. For the piston, saw out a disk of wood 
3 inches in diameter and bore a % inch hole through 
it in the center. The piston rod is simply a piece of 
wood % an inch in diameter and 12 inches long; 
cut a slot in one end % inch wide and % an inch 
deep and bore a M.6 inch hole through it as shown at 
C. Put the piston inside of the cylinder, slip the 
piston rod through the hole in the cylinder headv 
smear some glue on the end of it and fit it into the 
hole in the piston. 

The steam chest is next in order; for it use %6 inch 
thick wood and saw out four pieces 2 inches square; 
two of these pieces are for the heads of the steam 
chest, as shown at A and B, and in the center of 
one of them drill a % inch hole for the slide valve 
rod to go through. Turn, or whittle out, a piece of 
wood for the stuffing box % an inch in diameter and 
% inch long, bore a % inch hole through the center of 



304 



HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 



it and glue it to the center of the steam chest head 
that has the hole in it as shown at A, C and F. 

Saw two holes i% inches square out of the other 
two 2 inch square blocks and glue these to the steam 
chest heads. Now make a trough of -54 inch thick 
wood, or of cardboard or tin, 1% inches square, out- 



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side measurement, and 2% inches long; this is for the 
sides of the steam chest; as shown at A and F. 

Bore a % inch hole in the center of the top of the 
trough ; this hole is for the intake port, that is the open- 
ing through which the steam flows from the boiler into 
the steam chest. Bore three -J^ inch holes in a line 
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305 



3o6 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

shown at A and F. The two holes nearest the ends 
are the ports to let the steam into and out of the op- 
posite ends of the cylinder, and the central hole, or 
port, is the exhaust port C. 

Next make the slide-valve ; vise Vs inch thick wood 
and make it % inch high, r inch wide, and i/4 inch 
long on top and 2 inches long on the bottom; the 
bottom, as you will observe at A and E, is cut out 
so that it will cover one of the cylinder ports and 
the exhaust port at the same time and you need put 
only one side on it. 

The slide valve rod is a piece of wood % inch in 
diameter and 11% inches long. Whittle or plane one 
end flat and drill a % inch hole through it. This 
done, set the slide valve in the steam chest; slip the 
slide valve rod through the head and glue it to the 
slide valve. 

Now make four tubes or pipes of cardboard or tin % 
an inch in diameter, and have two of them 1% inches 
long and the other two 3 inches long; when you have 
formed all of them cut a strip Y2 inch wide out of each 
one lengthwise; the purpose of which is to show that 
they are hollow. 

When you have the tubes done glue, or otherwise 
fix, one of the short ones into the intake port of the 
steam chest and the other short one into the middle, 
or exhaust port in the bottom of the steam chest; then 
glue, or fix the two long tubes into the end holes, or 
ports, of the steam chest and the holes in the cylinders. 

Saw out a guide block for the piston rod to slide 



SOME EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS 307 

through, 2 inches wide, 3 inches high, 3 inches long on 
top and 5 inches long on the bottom as shown at A 
and C, and bore a % inch hole through the middle of 
the top of it lengthwise so that the center of the hole 
will be exactly 2/4 inches from the base line. 

Likewise saw out a guide block for the slide valve 
rod and make it i inch wide, 2 inches long and 3% 
inches high and drill a % inch hole through the mid- 
dle of the top of it lengthwise so that the center of 
the hole will be exactly 2^4 inches from the back board 
to which it is fixed. 

Next cut out a rocker arm of a % inch thick piece 
of wood and have it % inch wide at one end, % 
inch wide at the other end and 7 inches long; drill a 
Vs inch hole in each end and a 1% hole iVz inches from 
the large end; pivot the small end to the end of the 
slide valve rod with a machine screw having a nut on 
the end of it. 

Cut out an eccentric rod % inch thick, % inch wide 
and 8/4 inches long, and drill a % inch hole at each 
end so that their centers will be exactly 8 inches apart : 
pivot one end of this rod to the second hole in the 
rocker arm with a machine screw as before. Saw 
out a pivot block i inch square and drill a Vs inch hole 
through the center of it and pivot the lower end of 
the rocker arm to it with a screw. 

Make a connecting rod, to couple the piston rod 
to the crankshaft with, % inch thick, /^ an inch wide 
at one end, % inch wide at the other end and 9 inches 
long; whittle or plane down the small end so that it 



3o8 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

will fit easily into the slot in the end of the piston rod 
and drill a % inch hole in each end so that their 
centers are precisely 8% inches apart. 

The crankshaft can be made of a piece of % inch 
thick wire 13 inches long which must be bent to the 
exact shape shown at D; before it is thus bent, how- 
ever, slip the wire through the hole in the end of the 
eccentric rod and then bend the crank on it. 

Saw out a flywheel of % inch thick wood, 8 inches 
in diameter, drill a Vs inch hole through its center and 
force it on over the wire forming the crankshaft ; then 
slip the end of the connecting rod on the other end of 
the crankshaft wire and bend it to form a crank. 

The front end of the crankshaft must be supported 
by a pillow block just as it is in a real engine, but the 
rear end is held in place by a board screwed to the 
back of the base. This block is % an inch thick, i 
inch wide at the top, 2 inches wide at the bottom and 
3 inches high; drill a % inch hole in the top of it 
exactly 2^4 inches from the base line and slip this 
over the end of the crankshaft next to the connecting 
rod. 

The last thing to be done is to make a base to 
mount the parts of the engine on; this is a sort of a 
shelf and it is built up of a board % inch thick, 6 inches 
wide and 3 1 inches long for the base. Saw a slot in it 
% inch wide and 9 inches long in one corner, 2 inches 
from one end and % an inch from the side ; this is for 
the fly-wheel to set in. 

Screw a back to it ^ an inch thick, 10 inches wide 




309 



310 HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS 

and 3 inches long; this must be perfectly rigid and if 
necessary you can brace it with angle blocks. Finally 
glue four legs i inch square and 2V2 inches long on 
the corners of the base-board. 

To put the engine together, or assemble it as it is 
called, screw the cylinder to the base-board, then glue 
or screw the piston rod guide block to the base; the 
slide valve rod guide block to the back board, and the 
pivot block for the rocker arm to the base-board. 

Drill a % inch hole in the back board 2% inches up 
from the base-board exactly 16^^ inches from the 
front cylinder head ; put one end of the crankshaft in 
the hole and slip the other end of it into the pillow 
block; see that all is in a line and that the flywheel 
clears the sides of the slot in the base-board. Then 
it is all done and will look like F. 

How the Engine Works. — Now if you will turn 
the flywheel around with your hand, or better, belt a 
small electric motor to it, you will see exactly how the 
slide valve opens first one port in the cylinder and then 
the other and that when the port is open which gives 
a clear path for the steam to flow from the steam 
chest to the cylinder, the other port is connected to the 
exhaust pipe, when the used steam passes into the 
open air. 

When you know all aoout it you are then ready to 
give your last evening divertisement and for the time 
being to say Good-by. 

THE END 



INDEX 



Acid etching on glass, 222 
Aeolian harp, 267 
Alcohol lamp, 52, 60, 209 

How to make an, 52 
Alloys : 

Brass, dy 

Pewter, 66, 68, 93 

Solders, 66, ^2 

Type metal, 66, 68 

Useful, 67 
Aluminum, 67 

Arkansas carving tool slip, 46 
Art of working glass, 202 
Auger bits, carpenter's 6, 13 
Automobile truck, to make an, 
228 



Badges, how to make, 192-196 

Barnum, P. T., 295 

Bellows for blow pipe, 217 

Bench, how to make a car- 
penter's, 20. 

Bent iron work, Venetian. See 
Venetian bent iron work 

Bismuth, 95 

Blow pipe for glass blowing, 
214 

Blue prints, how to make, 131 

Bluing steel, 74 
Brass, 74 

Bohemian glass, 203 

Bolts and rivets, y2 

Bookbinding, 179-181 

" Book of Electricity," 290 

" Book of Wireless," 295 

Brace and bits, carpenter's, 6, 9 

Brass, 67 
How to blue, 74 
To color, 74 



Brass — continued. 

To dull, 74 

To frost, 75 

Stencils, 198-200 
Bromide photo paper, 142 
Bunsen burner, 60, 209 
Burning brand, how to make a, 
196 

Cabinet making, 1-23 
Calipers, spring, 57, 62 
Cameras, 135-140 
Camouflage photographs, 154 
Candle shade, pierced brass, 91 
Candlestick, how to make a 

repousse, 87 
Carbon dioxide gas, how to 

make, 287 
Carbon impressions, 123 
Carborundum oil stone, d^ 
Cards for printing, 175 
Caricature photographs, 155 
Carpenter's tools: 

Brace and auger bits, 6, 9 

Chisels, 4, 9 

Gimlets, 6, 11 

Gouges, 4, 9 

Hammer, 2, 8 

How to sharpen, 12, 13 

How to use, 8-12 

Liquid glue, 7, il 

Mallet, 2 

Miter box, 4 

Nail set, 6, 10 

Oil can, 7 

Planes, 4, 9 

Rule, 6, 10 

Saws, 2, 8 

Screw drivers, 6 

Screws, 6, 10, 11 



311 



312 



INDEX 



Carpenter's tools — continued. 

To etch your name on, 14 

To remove rust from, 14 

Try-square, 6 

Washita oil-stone, 7 
Carpenter's work bench, how 
to make a, 20 

Tool chest, 22 
Carpentry work, 1-23 

Woods for, 15-17 
Cartoons, 275-278 
Carver's washita oil stone, 46 
Carving tool slip, 46 
Carving wood, 24, 44-51 
Casting pewter, 93, 97 
Cathedral chimes, 268 
Cellulose, 176 
Cement for glass, 224 
Center punch, machinist's, 57, 61 
Chase, putting type in use, 170 
Chemistry, 280 

Chest, how to make a tool, 22 
Chimes, Cathedral, 265 
Chip carving, 47 
Chisels, 4, 9 

Circle, how to draw a, 119 
Clamps, carpenter's, 6; wood 

carver's, 46 
Cleaning metals, 89 
Coaster, to make a, 231 
Coins, musical, 253 
Coherer, to make a, 294 
Colored glass, 203 
Coloring metals, 73, 74, 81 ; 

wood, 54 
Colors, printing in, 174; stencil, 

201 
Companion wood turning 

lathe, 37 
Compasses for drawing, 112 
Composing stand, 167; stick, 

162-169 
Contact printing, photo, 132 
Copper, 66 
Copygraph, how to make and 

use, 189-191 
Cricket scroll saw, 30 
Cutting pliers, 57, 60 



Dancing Sambo, to make a, 

243 
Dark room, 136 
Dead black for iron, a, 81 
Decalcomania, 128 
Decorative stencils, 199-201 
Design, how to burn in a, 53 
Design on wood, how to trace 

a, 29 
Designs for scroll sawing, 30 

For Venetian bent iron work, 
96 
Developer for dry plates, 137 

for bromide paper, 143 
Diamond glass cutters, 203 
Die sinking, 192, 193 
Dies, screw cutting taps and, 

57, 62 
Dividers : 

Spring, 57, 61 

For drawing, 112 
Disston saws, 2 
Drawing : 

Free-hand, 103 

Life models, 104 

Still life, 104, 107 

Human figure, 105-108 

Perspective, 108 

How to find vanishing point, 
109-111 

How to shade, 11 1 

Isometric perspective ellipse, 
118 

Circle, 119 

Spiral, 120 

Plain ellipse, 121 

With a pantagraph, 121 

Cartoons, 275 
Drawings : 

For carpentry work, 19 

For metal work, 68 

Working, in 

Isometric perspective, 116 

Tracings of, 124 
Drawing board, 113 

Reflecting, 123 
Drawing paper, 113 
Drawing tools, 112, 113 



INDEX 



313 



Drill attachment for scroll saw, 

33 
Drill stock, 57, 60 

Twist, 28 < 
Drills, Morse twist, 57, 61 
Dry plates, 136, 137 

For lantern slides, 151 

Easel, how to make an, 276 
Ebony stain for wood, 55 
Egg boiler, Venetian iron, 79 
Egyptian rebec, 269 
Electrical evening, an, 290 
Electrical experiments, 292 
Electricity : 

Demonstrating without ap- 
paratus, 290 

Static, 291 

Induction or spark coil, 292 
Electrified papers, 290 
Electrify a person, how to, 292 
Ellipse, how to draw an, 118, 

121 
Engraver's wax, loi 
Engraving on metal, 99 
Engraving tools, 99 
Engine building for boys, 301 
Enlarging apparatus, photo, 140 
Entertainments, 274 

Cartoons, 276 

Chemistry, 280 

Travelogue, 287 

Electricity, 290 

Wireless telegraphy, 293 

Palmistry, 295 

Steam engine, 300 
Etching glass, 219, 222 
Etching tool, how to make an, 

52 
Etching your name on tools, 14 
Excelsior printing presses, 158 
Experiments in chemistry, 280 

In electricity, 290 

Fahrenheit thermometer scale. 
Fiddle, an Egyptian, 269 



Files: for scroll sawyers, 28 
For machinists, 57, 62 

Figure carving, 51 

Finger and hand prints, 125 

Fixing bath, how to make a, 
134 

Flint glass, 203 

Fluxes, for soldering, 71 

Fret sawing, See Scroll saw- 
ing 

Fumed oak, 55 

Gimlets, carpenter's, 6, 11 
Glass : 

Art of working, 202-226 

How made, 202 

How to cut, 203 

To drill holes in, 206 

Blow pipe for, 214, 215 

Bellows for, 217 

How to etch, 219, 222 

To make ground, 222 

To cement, 224 

To frost, 224 

Substitutes for, 225 

To silver, 226 
Glass bulb, how to blow a, 215 
Glass cutters, 203, 204, 208 
Glass disks, how to cut, 208 
Glass edges, to finish off, 206 
Glass nozzle, how to make, 212 
Glass tubing, how to cut, 207 

To bend, 209 

To round the ends of, 211 

To seal, 211 

To pierce, 213 

To join, 213 
Glasses, musical, 253 
Glue, how to make and use, 11 
Glue pot, how to make a, 11 
Gold, printing in, 175 
Goodyear Rubber Co., 183 
Goose, to make a life-like, 241 
Gouges, carpenter's, 4 
Graflex camera, 140 
Gravers, 99 

Ground glass, to make, 222 
Gutenburg, Johanne, 157 



314 



INDEX 



Hack saw, 57, 60 
Hammers, carpenter's, 2, 8 

Scroll sawyers, 29 

Machinist's, 57, 60 
Hand, parts of the human, 298 
Hand and finger prints, 125 
Hand inlaid printing presses, 

157 
Hand made paper, 176 
Hand saws, carpenter's, 2 
Hand screws, carpenter's, 6, 

10 
Hand scroll saw table, 27 
Hardware for scroll sawyerS; 

Harp, the tubular, 258 
Hectograph, See Copygraph 
Hershel, Sir John, 153 
Horse, how to make a stick, 

Hieroglyphics, 202 
Hydrogen chloride gas, how to 
make, 283 

Imposing stone, 120 
Ink: 

India, 113 

Printing, 173 

For rubber stamp, 189 

For copygraph, 191 

For stencils, 200 
Ink rollers, 173 

Ink pads for rubber stamps, 188 
"Inventing for Boys," 119 
Iron: 

Wrought, 64 

Steel, 64 

How to color a dead black, 
81 
Iron work, Venetian bent, See 

Venetian bent iron work 
Isometric perspective draw- 
ings, 116 

Ellipses, 118 
Isometric ruled paper, 116 

Jeweler's saw frame, 57 
Saws, 60 



Jig sawing, See Scroll sawing 
Job printing, 172 
Joining, See Carpentry 
Joints, edge and corner, wood, 

17 
Metal, 70 
Justifying, 169 

Kodaks, 139 

Lacquer, how to make and use, 

75 
Lantern slides, 139, 150, 151 
Lathe for wood turners, 2)7 
Lead, 65, 93 
Lead glass, 203 
Lead pencils for drawing, 113 
Lenses, photo, 140 
Lignum vitae mallets, 46 

Magic fountain, 281 

Magic lantern, how to make 

and operate, 148-150 
Magic photographs, 153 
Magic of science, 209 
Mallet, carpenter's, 2 
Machinist's tools, See Metal 

working tools 
Markers for wood carvers, 46 
Marking gauge, carpenter's, 6, 

10 
Metal, engraving, 99 
Metals : 

Their uses, 64 

How to solder, 71 

Iron, 64 

Tin, 64 

Lead, 65 

Zinc, 65 

Copper, 66 

Type-metal, 66, 68 

Brass, 67 

Aluminum, 67 

Pewter, 68, 94 

Bismuth, 95 
Metal work : 

Tools for, 57-63 

Drawing plans for, 68 



INDEX 



315 



Metal work — continued 
Sheet, 69 

Seams and joints, 70 
Bolts and rivets for, 72 
Solders for, 72 
Bending, 73 
Coloring, 73-83 
Cleaning and polishing, 89 
Pierced, 90 
Miter box, 4 
Molds : 
For casting pewter, 97 
For paper making, 177 
For rubber stamps, 185 
" Money Making for Boys," it?7 
Moresco stencil color, 201 
Morse twist drills, 57, 61 
Mounting rubber stamps, 188 
Musical instruments, home- 
made: 
Coins, 253, 254 
Tomato cans, 254-256 
Glasses, 256, 257 
Tubular harp, 258-260 
Push pipe, 260-262 
Xylophone, 263, 264 
Tubaphone, 264, 265 
Cathedral chimes, 265-267 
Aeolian harp, 267-269 
Egyptian fiddle, 269-273 
Mystic glass of milk, 280 

Nail set, carpenter's, 6, 10 
Nails and screws, how to drive, 

II 
Nitrogen lamps, 141 

Oil can, carpenter's, 7 
Oil stone, carpenter's, 7 
Machinist's, 63 

Palmistry for fun, 295-297 
Panel carving, 50 
Pantagraph, to make and use 

a, 121 
Paper : 

Blue print, 132 

Photographic, 133, 142 

For job printing, 175 



Paper making, 176-179 
Paper stencils, 198 
Patter, 277 
Pattern making, 95 
Perspective, see Drawing 
Pewter, 66 

How to make, 94 

To work, 95 

To cast, 95 

Solder for, 95 

Patterns for, 95 

To make a mold for, 97 
Pewter ware, finishing, 98 
Photo frame, a repousse, 88 
Photography : 

Blue prints, 131 

Contact printing, 132 

Silver prints, 133 

Papers, 133 

Fixing bath, 133 

Toning solution, 134 

Dark room, 136 

Developer, 137 

Dry plates, 137 

Cameras, 13S-140 

Lenses, 140 

Enlargements, 140-14^ 

Radium, 151 

Skiagraphs, 151 

Trick, 153 

Camouflage, 154 

Caricature, 155 
Pierced metal work, 90-93 
Planes, carpenter's, 4, 9, 12 
Plaster of Paris, 184 
Plate holder, a Venetian iron, 81 
Pliers for scroll sawyers, 28 
Policeman's puzzle, to make a, 

227 
Polishing metal work, 89 

German silver, 195 
Pony and cart, to make a, 239 
Post card store, 289 
Press, See Printing press 
Printing : 

Kinds of presses, 157 

Outfit needed, 161 

Composing stick, 162, 169 



3i6 



INDEX 



Printing — conthmed 

Composing stand, 167 

Imposing stone, 169 

Chase for press, 169 

Making ready, 172 

Ink, 173 

Ink rollers, 174 

In colors, 174 

In gold, 175 

Stock supply, 175 

See also Type 
Printing presses : 

Kinds, 157, 158 

Sizes and prices, 160 

How worked, 160 
Prints, photo, 133 
Protractors for drawing, 113 
Pulp for paper, 176 
Push pipe, musical, 260 
Pyrography, 51-53 

Radioactive substances, 152 
Radiographs, 152 
Radium photographs, 151 
Rag engine, 177 
Reflecting drawing board, 123 
Reflectoscope, 145-147 
Repousse work, 84-88 
Rivets and bolts, y2 
Robinson Crusoe, i 
Rosin for fiddle bows, 273 
Rubber stamps : 

How to make and use, 183- 
188 

Ink pads, 188 

Inks, 189 
Rule, carpenter's, 6, 10 
Ruling pens for drawing, 112 
Russel Jennings' auger bits, 6 
Rust on tools, removing, 14 

Sand blast process, 219 
Saw : 

Carpenter's, 2, 8, 12 

Disston, 2 

Hack, 57 

Jeweler's, 57, 60 



Sconce, a Venetian iron, 82 
Screw cutting taps and dies, 

57, 62 
Screw drivers : 

Carpenter's, 6 

Machinist's, 60, 63 
Screws, how to drive, 11 
Scroll sawing, 24-37 

Designs for, 29, 30 

Woods to use, 36 
Scroll saws : 

Hand, 25 

Foot-power, 30-35 

Cricket, 30 

Lester, 32 

Fleetwood, 2)3> 
Scroll sawyer's tools, 27-29 

Designs, 30 

Hardware, Z7 
Seams in metal work, 70 
Self-inking printing presses, 158 
Sharpening tools, 63 
Shellac varnish, 96, 197 
Shears, tinner's, 57, 60 
Sheet metal work, See Metal 

work, 70 
Silhouettes, 126 
Silvering glass, 226 
Silver prints, photo, 133 
Sketching, see Drawing 
Skiagraphs, 151 
Snibs for wood carvers, 46 
Soap bubbles, vicious, 284 
Soiree, a, 274 
Solder, 60, 66, 72 
Soldering metals, 71 
Spark coil, 292 
Spirit photographs, 153 
Spinning coins, Virgil's theory 

of, 254 
Spiral, how to draw a, 120 
Staining wood, 54, 55 
Stanley planes, 4 
Steam engine, 300-310 
Steel, 64 

How to blue, 74 

Letters and figures, 193 

Glass cutters, 203 



INDEX 



317 



Steel rule, machinist's, 57, 61 
Steel square, machinist's, 57, 61 
Stencils, 198-201 
Stencil inks, how to make, 200, 

201 
Stereoscope, 289 
Stereographs, 289 
Stereoptican, 151 
Stradivari, Antonio, 270 
Swing, to make a, 235 

Taps and dies, screw cutting, 

57, 62 
Thermometer scale, Fahren- 
heit, 65 
Theory of spinning coins, 254 
Thumb tacks, 113 
Tin, 65 
Tin-foil, 65 

Turner's snips, 57, 60, 6s 
Toaster, a Venetian iron, 78 
Tomato cans, musical, 255 
Toning photo prints, 133, 134 
Tool chest, how to make a, 22 
Tools : 

Carpenter's, see Carpenter's 
tools 

Woodworking, 2 

Wood turning, 40 

Metal working, 57-63 

Venetian bent iron work, 76 

Repousse work, 84 

Engraving, 99 

Drawing, 112 
I'oys, how to make : 

Policeman's puzzle, 227 

Automobile truck, 228 

Wheelbarrow, 231 

Coaster, 231 

Swing, 235 

Stick horse, 237 

Pony and cart, 239 

Goose, 241 

Dancing Sambo, 243 

Wireless pup, 245 
Tracings, how to make, 124 
Transfer pictures, 128 
Travelogue, giving a, 287 



Triangle for drawing, 113 
Trick photography, 153 
Try square, carpenter's, 6 
T square for drawing, 113 
T tube, how to make, 213 
Tubaphone, the peculiar, 264 
Turning lathe, scroll saw, 33 
Turning wood, 24, 37, 41-43 
Turning tools for wood, 40 
Type: 

Styles of, 163-166 

Cases, 167 

How to set, 169 

How to distribute, 173 

How to clean, 173 

See also Printing 
Type form, how to lock up, 171 
Type-metal, 66 

Uncanny wheel, 286 

Venetian bent iron work, 76-84 

Toaster, 78 

Egg boiler, 79 

Plate holder, 81 
Vulcanizing rubber, 186, 187 
Vise, carpenter's, 21 

Wood carver's, 46 

Machinist's, 60 

Washita oil-stone for carpen- 
ters, 7 
For carvers, 46 
Washita slip stone, 13 
Watch holder, how to carve a, 

48 
Wheelbarrow, to make a nifty, 

. 233 
Wireless pup, to make a, 245 
Wireless set, to make a, 293 
Wireless telegraphy, demon- 
strating, 293 
Wood : 

How to turn, 41 

Coloring and staining, 54, 55 
Wood burning, 24 

See also Pyrography 
Wood carver's tools, 44-46 



3i8 



INDEX 



Wood carving-, 24, 44-51 
Wood filler, how to make, li 
Wood turning, 24, 2>7 

Lathe for, 37-40 

Tools, 40, 41 
Woods : 

For carpentry, 15 

For scroll sawing, 36 

For carving, 47 
Woodworking joints, 17 
Woodworking tools. See Car- 
penter's tools 



Work bench, how to make a, 
20 

Working drawings : 
For carpentry, 18 
How to make plan, 115 
Isometric perspective, 116 
See also Drawings 

Xylophone, curious, 263 

Zinc, 65 



